The Remains in the Rain
by forensicsfan
Summary: What starts out as a trip to Seattle to promote Brennan's latest book turns into much more as secrets surface in flood waters and Booth and Brennan find that a few of their own secrets surface in the process.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I certainly don't profit from them; however, if I did, you can be sure that Booth and Bones would entertain us with a kiss in each and every episode.

**Author's Note: **This is a work in progress and I have a fulltime job so please be patient for the updates; they will come, but I won't guarantee how quickly they'll arrive. However, if you stick with me for the ride, I assure you that I'll do my best to write a story that will not only entertain you, but hopefully keep you in a little bit of suspense with a healthy dose of fluff here and there. So without further adieu, let's begin.

* * *

**Prologue**

Dr. Temperance Brennan regarded her partner Special Agent Seeley Booth with a decidedly annoyed expression on her face, "Booth, I don't need you to come with me; it's a book tour not a murder investigation." She wasn't particularly thrilled about having to leave her work at the Jeffersonian for a few days as it was, contractual agreement with her publisher aside, but she certainly did not need to have Booth in alpha-male-alert-mode along for the ride.

"Bones, some of your fans have proven to be a little..." Booth twirled his finger next to his ear and contorted his face into a somewhat comical expression, "off balance." Fresh in his memory was her former publicist's assistant and a few other fans that had traded murders that they'd taken right out of the pages of one of her books; so he couldn't help but be a little worried that she was going off to Seattle all by herself to meet and greet these obsessive bookworms face to face.

"Three people, Booth, out of millions of people reading my books that's an anomaly." She scowled at him; part of her was truly irritated, but there was another part of her that was glad that he felt the need to look out for her. However, right now it was the fiercely independent Temperance Brennan that was in control of the conversation and she had a book tour to leave for; she'd only stopped by the Jeffersonian to pick up a few things on her way to the airport, a stop that had somehow inspired Booth to protest her trip with some flimsy excuse about her safety.

"Anoma-what?" Booth looked at her with a perplexed expression, "Never mind, look, Bones, I'm just saying that you need someone to watch your back." He knew full well that she was very capable of taking care of herself; however, he also knew that she didn't read people nearly as well as he did and for his own peace of mind he'd feel a whole lot better if he went along to make sure that his partner was safe.

"My publicist said that they had security provided for my appearances," Brennan felt a flurry of nerves as she considered just how many appearances had been scheduled; thankfully only one television appearance on some local afternoon talk show and a couple of short spots on several call in radio shows followed by a handful of bookstore appearances at some large chain bookstore that she'd already forgotten the name of. The book signings at the store didn't make her nervous the way that being on television or radio did.

"What kind of security?" Booth put on his best FBI face as he rested his hands on his hips and stared her down. He didn't begrudge the fact that she had to make appearances for her latest book; a book that she'd dedicated to him. His stern expression cracked into a smile for a brief moment as he considered that of all of the people that she could have dedicated it to, she'd chosen to dedicate one of her books to him, again. He cleared his throat and furrowed his brow, "If it's some kind of rent-a-cop, I'm not sure that's good enough."

Brennan suddenly found it all fairly comical and she let out an amused chuckle, "Booth, it's only Seattle." She'd been to far more dangerous places in more far flung places than the Pacific Northwest. Rwanda. Guatemala. Somalia. Just to name a few.

"Home of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and D.B. Cooper to name a few," Booth was rather pleased with his knowledge of the FBI's most wanted; past and present. Surely Bones couldn't discount the potential danger of any city, even one where the residents drank so much coffee that it nearly ran through their veins.

"Booth, you're being ridiculous," Brennan snuffed a breath out her nose and pursed her lips together, folding her arms over one another in the process, "Look, I have a plane to catch," her expression softened; she knew that Booth was only showing concern for her well being – the sort of thing that partners did for one another, "Zack can help you if you get a case while I'm gone."

"Promise me that you'll be careful, Bones," He wasn't sure why he felt the need to admonish her; she was a grown woman. Ok, she was a grown woman who seemed to be a magnet for trouble and on top of that she was gorgeous which brought along a whole different kind of trouble that she really didn't realize she needed rescuing from most of the time.

She rolled her eyes as she gathered her things and headed towards the doorway of her office, "I'm going to miss my flight if you don't hurry up; traffic on the Beltway is particularly heavy this time of day." As far as Brennan was concerned this discussion about her safety at a book signing in the other Washington was over; they had exactly 90 minutes until she was supposed to be boarding her flight to Seattle from Dulles and even if Booth used sirens and lights she was going to be cutting it close.

Brennan settled in her first class seat on the non-stop flight to Seattle; she'd been the second to the last one on the plane; having an FBI escort had its advantages at times, however, she was glad this time that she'd left him standing at the gate with a promise that she'd call if she needed him; something that she didn't anticipate at all, but it seemed to placate him as she made her way up the jet way. She'd planned to catch up on a few forensic journals during the six-hour flight, but almost as soon as Brennan had fastened her seatbelt the woman next to her had struck up a conversation with her, having recognized her from the jacket of the book she'd brought along to read.

By the time they were making their final approach into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Brennan had learned far more about advances in drinking water quality science and technology than she'd ever considered and she'd gotten a brief history of the area from her seatmate and an invitation for dinner if she had time in her schedule in a city that could be polite but wasn't always genuinely friendly.

As she made her way out of the Boeing 737 and headed to the baggage claim area to gather her bags and where she was going to meet her publicist Natalie she had no way of knowing that this moment would be the calm before the storm, both literally and figuratively.


	2. Chapter 2

"I hope you had a chance to rest on the flight because we've got to hit the ground running, Tempe dear," Natalie Wilson might have been slight of build, but her tenacious personality more than made up for it as she maneuvered Brennan out of the baggage claim area towards a line of taxis, limos and shuttles moving in a serpentine line in front of the airport through lightly falling snow as they picked up and dropped off travelers.

"I thought we didn't have anything scheduled until this afternoon," Brennan tried to hide her irritation at the last-minute change of plans; she had hoped that she would at least get checked into her hotel and have an opportunity to mentally prepare herself for her appearance on the local afternoon talk show; the one thing on her itinerary that she was most nervous about. At that moment she wished that she'd given in and let Booth come along with her if for no other reason than to make her smile and tell her that she'd done a great job, or at least that she hadn't been completely awful.

"Just a tiny little change of plans," Natalie looked out at the line of vehicles searching for one she recognized, "One of the hosts of 'Good Afternoon Seattle' is an anchor on the noon news and when I mentioned that your flight got in before 11:00, she wanted to get a spot with you as a plug for the show this afternoon."

The time change momentarily made Brennan's head spin, but she quickly recovered; of course since she'd left DC at 7:30 it had landed in Seattle at 10:30 and by the time they'd gathered her bags, it was just a little after 11:00 on the west coast. She let out a sigh and her stomach began to grumble that airline food wasn't going to cut it, even if it was first class airline food, "What other changes should I know about?"

"Just that one," Natalie smiled; she'd heard all about Temperance Brennan before she'd become her publicist from a myriad of people in the publishing industry who regarded her as a little too cold and detached and maybe even a bit dangerous considering what had happened to her last publicist, however, she'd gladly taken on the challenge as a way not only to forge her own career, but because she believed deep down that anyone that wrote books as well as Tempe did, especially those scenes between Kathy and Andy, could not possibly be completely cold and detached. She'd been right of course, and while she had not yet personally met Tempe's infamous FBI partner Seeley Booth, she was sure that he was most certainly the inspiration for Andy Lister, and she suspected that there was far more fact in the fiction even if it hadn't yet been played out in real life. Things like that made Temperance Brennan endearing to Natalie and it certainly hadn't hurt her career either.

"I just wasn't expecting to go on television until this afternoon," Brennan steeled herself; she could do this. She could almost hear Booth's voice in her head telling her to just relax and be herself, or at least try and sound like a non-squinty best selling author. Somehow it would have been easier talking about the science of forensic anthropology than talking about a work of fiction.

"You look fine; the hair and make up people at the station will fuss over you anyway before you go on camera and then I promise that we'll get you over to your hotel so you can get ready for this afternoon," Natalie waved at a limousine that was already making its way over to the curb. "I've already got a list of the questions they're going to ask you and we can go over them on the way to the TV station."

They were slipping into the back of the limousine as the driver put Brennan's bags in the trunk before she could even protest that she was more than capable of doing it herself, she glanced at the list of questions that Natalie had thrust at her as they'd climbed into the limousine, pausing for a moment as the driver climbed in and pulled away from the curb, "Most of these questions could be answered by reading the jacket on the book."

"But we want people to buy the book, Tempe, if they know a little bit about you they might be more inclined to pick it up long enough to read the jacket and maybe buy the book. At least we're hoping that we get a good turnout at the book signings; this close to the holidays a signed copy of 'Bone Blindness' would be a perfect gift for anyone." Natalie sounded confident, but then again, that was her job. She alone was responsible for getting Dr. Temperance Brennan out there in the public eye so that people would clamor for an opportunity to read her latest mystery, or at the very least the latest development between her two characters.

"I think they'd be more inclined to buy the book if they were interested in the story," Brennan had spotted a question that she found a little troubling as she flipped to the page with the questions she'd be asked later on that afternoon, "What does my partnership with Booth have to do with my book?" Her brow was furrowed as she scanned the rest of the questions.

"Tempe dear, people like to draw parallels, if they think that you have something hot and heavy going on with your very own FBI hunk they'll find the romance in your books all that much more real," Natalie tried to temper her smirk.

"Booth and I are partners; we have a professional relationship. And the book is fiction. Why would people want to make it out to be more than it is?" Brennan found it odd that she seemed to come up against this argument all the time, even with Booth who was convinced that he was the inspiration for Agent Andy Lister.

"Because it provides an escape from their lives," Natalie could see that this trip to Seattle was going to be more challenging that the previous trips to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"Well then maybe they need to get more interesting lives," Brennan quipped completely serious.

"That might be something you don't want to say in your interview; you'll alienate your readers," Natalie smiled a bit forced. This was definitely the more abrasive side of Temperance Brennan, but she was prepared for it. If this book could hit the New York Times Best Seller List then her career was a sure thing and some of those clients that had turned her down just a couple of years ago might just come calling.

"What, by telling them the truth?" Brennan knew that she wasn't good with people, but she also didn't shy away from the truth. That little voice of Booth in the back of her head seemed to speak up again telling her that she could tell the truth, it was just that her delivery could use a little softening up.

"Tempe, no one wants to hear that they need to get a more interesting life; they already know how uninteresting their life is. One of the reasons that people read books like yours is so they can feel for even a little while as if they're living in someone else's life. That's why it's important for them to be able to connect with you during your interview." Natalie wondered how in the world Tempe managed to work cases alongside her hunky FBI partner if she was this blunt all of the time; or maybe that was exactly why the fiction hadn't yet become a fact between the pair.

Brennan let out a sigh and tried to smile, "Ok, I'll try, but I'm not good with people."

"You're better with people than you give yourself credit for, but most people don't have as many degrees as you do," Natalie smiled; she guessed that the reason Tempe thought she wasn't a people person was because she knew far more about things that most people had absolutely no clue about. She decided to take a different approach, "Just tell the viewers the basic storyline...without giving the ending away of course so that they'll buy the book and give them a basic overview of why you write in the first place."

"I can do that," Brennan was glad that Natalie was her publicist because at times like this she reminded her a bit of Angela.

"Of course you can," Natalie's smile widened as they pulled up in front of the television station, "Now Rob here is going to take your bags down to the hotel and come back and pick you up as soon as your spot on the noon news is done so you can get ready for the interview this afternoon." She opened the door to the limousine and sprung out with the same energy and determination she'd had at the airport.

Brennan followed after her and she suddenly felt a pang; these trips were a necessary inconvenience to promote her book, but she would much rather be back in DC working a case from Limbo or finding a key piece of evidence on some remains from a case she was working with Booth than getting ready to go on the air.

Natalie glanced back at her as they entered the station, "You look a little tired," she offered her a friendly smile, "I'm sure they have coffee around her somewhere."

"The flight was just really long." That was true of course, but her thoughts were really back in DC wondering what sort of trouble Zack and Hodgins were getting themselves into already in her absence and what Angela was working on; she'd call and check in later to see if they needed her for anything, but if she was truly honest with herself, which for some reason she only seemed to be able to do in snippets, she found herself missing Booth.


	3. Chapter 3

It seemed that before she knew it, Brennan was standing next to a petite Asian woman who was smiling at a camera and waiting for her cue; she had a vague recollection that her name was Molly or Mary or something fitting someone who was so perky. Brennan only hoped that she could get through this spot interview and onto her hotel before Natalie scheduled any more unexpected appearances.

The weather guy seemed to be wrapping up his forecast. "So a few flurries tonight, maybe some extra snow in the outlying areas, but we'll have heavy rain by tomorrow afternoon and maybe even some gusts before the next storm front moves in. Now that's the one you're going to want to watch out for; it's going to pack a one two punch of wind and rain, so expect a few rivers to rise." His smile was far too wide to be completely genuine. "Now to Molly Ng with 'What's on Today'." the director was using his fingers to count down when the camera they were standing in front of would go live

The red light on top of the camera blinked to life and with it Molly did too, "Thanks Matt." She seemed to pause for effect before she glanced over at Brennan, "I'm here with best selling author and world renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan." She smiled at Brennan, "Welcome to Seattle."

"Thank you," Brennan wasn't sure what to say, but she reasoned that it was an interview and this Molly person would get to the questions eventually.

As if she was on some sort of inner schedule, Molly, moved right along, "You're in town to promote your latest book, isn't that correct?" Molly looked at her expectantly.

"Yes, I usually have a book tour once the book is published," Brennan heard Booth's voice in her head to cut the reporter some slack, she's just asking obvious questions so that the viewers will be informed and isn't that what you want when you write a book that you want people to buy?

"What can you tell us about 'Bone Blindness'?" Molly held a copy of the book up so that the camera and the viewers at home could get a good look at it.

"It's a murder mystery; fictional of course, and by the end of the book, it's solved," Brennan's nerves seemed to be getting the best of her; yes, those were factual statements, but she did far better on the witness stand during a murder trial.

Molly let out a laugh, "Of course; we won't spoil the plot so that people will go and buy themselves a copy," she glanced back over at Brennan as if they were sharing a secret, "I'm sure this will make the New York Times Best Sellers List like your others have."

"I'm sure my publicist would be happy about that," Brennan had a smirk on her face as she glanced off camera at Natalie.

Molly turned back to face the camera, "Join us this afternoon at 3:00 on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' to hear more about Dr. Temperance Brennan's new book 'Bone Blindness' and to learn more about her life as a forensic anthropologist and best selling author and where you can meet her in person," she leaned in towards the camera just a bit, "And maybe we'll finally get the answer to that question; is her real life FBI partner the inspiration for Andy Lister?"

"He's not," Brennan replied quite confidently to set the record straight.

Molly seemed to ignore her, "I'm Molly Ng and this has been 'What's on Today'."

"And we're clear," The director yelled out as they seemed to break for a commercial.

Molly seemed all business now, "Your publicist should have given you the questions that we'll cover this afternoon and maybe we can get you to sign a few copies of the book to give to members of the studio audience."

"Yes, she did; I wanted to discuss that with you," Brennan really did not want to talk about her partnership with Booth in any terms that weren't professional because that's what they had, a professional partnership. Of course they were good friends too, but he wasn't the inspiration for Andy Lister, well at least he wasn't originally the inspiration; maybe after working with him, certain mannerisms that were distinctly Booth had crept into Andy, but that was only to be expected since he was the FBI agent she knew the best. Well except Sully maybe, but he wasn't even a good example; how well did she really know Sully outside of a physical relationship anyway?

"I have to be back on camera here in about 90 seconds; we'll see you this afternoon, Dr. Brennan. It was a pleasure meeting you," And with that Molly was gone and Brennan was whisked over to the side where Natalie was waiting.

"Hopefully no one heard you talk about your partner," Natalie said under her breath as she moved Brennan out of the studio and back towards the lobby where they would wait for Rob the limousine driver to pick them up and take them to the hotel.

"But he isn't the inspiration for Andy Lister; why does everyone think that Booth is? Even Booth thinks he is," Brennan's brow was furrowed as they moved quickly towards the lobby.

"Well maybe subconsciously he _is_," Natalie had a delighted smirk on her face; she was definitely going to have to meet the infamous Special Agent Seeley Booth because she was almost one hundred percent certain that Tempe was in denial.

"I hate psychology," Brennan muttered under her breath; she wasn't sure that she was even enjoying this trip to Seattle at all and suddenly she had the most irrational thought that it would be wonderful if Mr. Smiling Weatherman was wrong and instead of flurries of snow that Seattle would just get hit with a blizzard so she could skip all of the book signings and at least get to enjoy the peace and quiet of her hotel room. Of course if it snowed her, no doubt she wouldn't be able to fly out anytime soon, so maybe there was a reason she didn't generally entertain irrational thoughts. She would just get through this part of the book tour and then she'd be back in DC.

"Tempe, dear, whether you like it or hate it, it doesn't change the fact that everyone but you thinks that your partner is Andy Lister," Natalie's eyes almost danced with mischief and as she noticed the limousine sitting outside the television station, she quickened her pace.

"My partner is Seeley Booth; Andy Lister is a fictional character," Brennan's words trailed off as she realized that Natalie wasn't even listening. She followed Natalie right into the back of the limousine and for the first time since she'd arrived in Seattle, she relaxed just a little bit.

"Ok, so I've got you down at the Edgewater Inn; not the biggest or fanciest hotel in town, but it's right on the water, the buffet is great and as a little note of trivia, the Beatles stayed there back in the 60s," Natalie was rather pleased with herself. Temperance Brennan did not strike her as someone who would have been impressed by the grand opulence of the Olympic Four Seasons, or the holiday flair that the Sheraton offered this time of year with their giant gingerbread house display; so she'd gone with a hotel that was distinctly Pacific Northwest in style and yet still had some refinement and understated elegance to it. Of course the fact that it was her favorite hotel in Seattle certainly didn't hurt either; Tempe's book tour was a very good reason to rationalize the cost of her room there as well.

Brennan didn't say anything in response; she simply leaned back into the seat and glanced out the window as Rob pulled the limo away from the curb. As she watched the scenery pass by as they drove down towards the water all she could think about was how she wanted to check in with Angela and see if they needed her input on anything back at the Jeffersonian and maybe she'd give Booth a call too, just to let him know that she didn't need him. Ok, so maybe she wouldn't say it quite like that; he'd probably be offended if she said it like that. She'd just tell him that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and while she appreciated that he had alpha male tendencies, in this instance they were completely unnecessary. Of course that really didn't explain why deep, deep down in the midst of her denial she missed him when it wasn't rational to miss someone that you'd only seen that morning.


	4. Chapter 4

"Now after you get situated we should talk about the interview this afternoon and the book signing tonight," Natalie was rattling out a punch list as they walked down the hall of the Edgewater Inn towards Brennan's suite.

"You've already given me the interview questions," Brennan wasn't quite sure why Natalie wanted to go over the questions, unless of course she planned on telling the host of the show that she didn't want to answer questions about Booth. Of course part of why Natalie reminded her a bit of Angela was because she seemed to think that Booth was the embodiment of Agent Andy Lister and she was willing to press the point.

"Well, I thought it might be a good idea if we ran through them so that you could practice your answers...you know just so we could work out any bugs," Natalie was sure that the moment Tempe's real-life partner came up that the flow of the interview was going to be disrupted and she just wanted to soften the edges of what might be some pretty blunt answers.

"I'm not an entomologist, I'm a forensic anthropologist so I don't see why insects would come up in the interview," Brennan fully intended to respond to the questions rationally and honestly, unless of course the answers were no one's business and then of course she would just say that.

"Tempe dear, I know that you're brilliant, but people want to see a bit of the warm and fuzzy side of their favorite author...it's what helps them to want to reach out and buy your books," Natalie sort of bit her lip as she waited for her comment to be deflected back to her like a bullet off of Kevlar.

"I'm not warm and fuzzy," Brennan let out a sigh as she reached the door to her suite, "and people should buy my book because they find the story interesting; why would I want them to spend money on something they wouldn't like?" She slipped the key card into the lock and pushed the door open.

"Ok, that's true, but you might want to soften things up a bit for television; I've seen you interview, before I worked with you of course, and you just need to relax on camera," Natalie offered a smile knowing full well that she was treading very lightly.

Brennan turned to face her publicist just inside her room, her body language making it clear that she wanted some time to herself before she was swept up into this whirlwind again, "Booth told me the same thing," the reference to her partner gave her a strange pang that she almost wished she'd let him come along, "I'll try."

"Good," Natalie was relieved, "Ok, I'll be back in a little over an hour, I'm staying right across the hall if you need anything. Room service should be here soon, so get some rest and we'll go back and take 'Good Afternoon Seattle' by storm."

Brennan really didn't have time to respond as her publicist turned and headed for her own room, "I don't know what that means." She shut the door and then turned to inspect the suite that Natalie had booked her in and she let out a little chuckle and smirked as she took it all in.

Anthropologically speaking, Brennan found it interesting that of all of the rooms at the Edgewater Inn that she could have ended up in, she was staying in the Beatles Suite. Photos of the Fab Four from their early years adorned the wall including a photo that had been taken in that very suite of them fishing out the window when they had visited Seattle back in 1964. She hadn't turned the stereo on as yet, but the woman who had checked her in had mentioned that it was state of the art and was already loaded with the Beatles' entire collection; something that maybe she'd investigate further if she had time.

The tasteful furnishings, a mixture of contemporary features and lodge décor, seemed to help Brennan decompress as she sank down onto the plaid sofa in the living room area and stared out the window as a ferry was making its way across Puget Sound seemingly on some silent homage to the snowflakes that were falling steadily out over the water. She let out a relaxed sigh and decided that now was as good a time as any to check in with the Jeffersonian because she really didn't have as much time as she'd hoped before she had to be back at the television station.

Angela picked up on the first ring and before Brennan could get a word in edgewise, her friend launched into twenty questions, "Sweetie, I thought your plane landed a couple of hours ago. How was the flight?"

"Angela, the flight was fine; long. My publicist added an extra interview to the schedule so I just got to the hotel," She smiled as she realized that the bathroom had a large soaker tub that if the door was left open had a perfect view of the water, and since the hotel was built out on a pier there was no need to worry that someone could see in. She was definitely going to allow herself the indulgence of soaking in that tub later.

"But so far you're having a good time?" There was something in Angela's voice that sounded slightly amused as if Zach and Hodgins were taking advantage of the fact that Brennan wasn't around to stop them from doing some idiotic experiment that would most like result in one or both of them catching hell from Cam as soon as she discovered it.

"I'm not sure if doing an unexpected interview on TV as soon as I get picked up from the airport qualifies as having a good time, but at least the hotel is really nice. It's right on the water and they said that the Beatles stayed here once," That little tidbit she was sure Angela would find interesting; not only for the fact that the Beatles had stayed there but that she knew who the Beatles were.

"The Beatles, huh?" Angela had a smirk in her voice; sometimes her friend genuinely surprised her, but her inquiring mind wanted to know if anything a little more exciting had transpired than staying in a hotel roomed named after one of the most famous rock bands in history, "Any hot _real_ guys, Bren?"

"Ang, I have another television interview in a little over an hour and I thought I'd see if you guys needed anything," Brennan wasn't about to answer that last question; as it was her friend was far too concerned about her love life or the absence thereof as the case might be, and besides, other than Rob the limousine driver, she hadn't had an opportunity to meet any men in Seattle anyway.

"I know you probably find this hard to believe; but we're doing just fine," She wasn't going to mention the antics that Zach and Hodgins were currently engaged in; she would hear about that soon enough once she got back.

"I know that you're all capable, but that doesn't mean that my input might not be required," The truth was that Brennan found contractually obligated book tour trips tiring; now if there had been a body to identify or a murder to investigate she might have found the trip to Seattle much more exciting.

"Well we're all fine; I'm sure that if we _do_ need something that it can wait until you get back," Angela could tell that Bren was a little off, but wrote it off as pre-television interview jitters.

"Well don't hesitate to call if something does comes up, I can always cut the book tour short," Brennan reasoned that if something came up that required her professional knowledge that Natalie would have to realize that it came before the tour; she was after all a world renowned forensic anthropologist who worked with the FBI and while Zach was probably more than capable, she had far more experience than he did. It was only natural that her services might be called upon without much notice.

"You're not cutting your book tour short; you know as well as I do that all of us are working on cases from Limbo right now," Angela let out a soft chuckle.

A knock sounded at the door, pulling Brennan's attention away from her call, "Ang, I think room service is here, I'll talk to you later, ok?" She felt much more relaxed talking to someone from her normal life that she couldn't help but smile.

"Have fun, Bren, I hear Seattle is a great place," Angela encouraged.

"I'll try," Brennan ended the call as she got off of the couch to answer the door; she wasn't sure how long she'd been on the phone with Angela, but room service seemed to respond very quickly, which was a good thing because she was really hungry. As she opened the door, her eyes widened and for a fraction of a second she was speechless before her eyes narrowed with a fury, "Booth, what in the hell are you doing here?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Bones," Booth didn't miss a beat and he walked right past her into the suite wearing exactly what he'd been wearing when he'd dropped her off at the airport that morning, "Wow, this is nice, much nicer than my room." He took particular interest in the array of the photos of the Beatles on the wall as he gave himself a quick tour.

"Booth, you didn't answer my question," Brennan was flustered, only this morning she had told him in no uncertain terms that she did not need him to come along on her book tour; and she was very certain that she'd left him standing at the gate as she'd boarded her flight.

"And the view," Booth let out a low whistle as he stared out over the water trying to hide the amusement he had at how well his partner was taking his sudden appearance. Clearly she thought that he'd stayed back in DC.

"Booth, what are you doing here?" Brennan wasn't about to let him off the hook. She had a very busy schedule and she most certainly did not need to have him throwing it all off, despite the fact that she almost wanted to hug him for being here.

Booth let out one of his signature laughs and flashed a teasing grin in her direction, "I called your publicist to find out what the security arrangements were for your tour and it seemed a little thin." He was reaching of course, he'd sort of padded the story that Bones had a few whacko fans and as a scientist at the top of her field who was of great value to the United States of American and the Federal Bureau of Investigation a rent-a-cop wasn't really going to cut it.

"You called my publicist," There was a definite irritation in her tone as she regarded her partner, but her irritation now was more _with_ her publicist who was going to get an earful as soon as she came back to go over those interview questions.

"I just didn't think that the rent-a-cop that she'd lined up was going to be enough. And by the way she had no idea who the agency was going to send out so that a background check could be done and she didn't know if they were going to provide a real a law enforcement professional or simply a security guard on his break from the mall," Booth knew that Bones was not very happy, but he also knew her well enough to know that after she had blown off a little steam that she'd be fine and then she'd be genuinely glad that he was here.

"So you _volunteered_ your services," Brennan had picked up a thing or two from Booth and her voice was thick with sarcasm. She didn't usually like to employ such methods, but she needed Booth to know that she didn't appreciate him interfering with every part of her life when she was more than capable of handling it quite nicely all by herself.

"No, actually I didn't," Booth looked smug, "your publicist asked me if I'd like to come; she thought that if I came along that you wouldn't need any other security." Of course it had taken pulling a few strings with Cullen to get his approval for an FBI escort for the temperamental Dr. Brennan, but when Booth reminded him of a previous incident involving several of her crazed fans that had resulted in multiple murders that had taken up valuable Bureau resources he finally gave in.

"I should fire her," Brennan knew that she wouldn't; it had been hard enough to replace her previous publicist and Natalie was good. Of course given her similarities to Angela, she really shouldn't be surprised at this kind of stunt.

"Hey, Bones, she's just looking out for your best interest, just like I am," Booth grinned at her; he knew that he was past the point of danger now and that after smoothing over a few things she'd be fine with him being there.

Brennan's brow was furrowed and she let out a frustrated sigh, "Then how come you didn't just tell me that you were coming along instead of making a show earlier?" Not that she would have been happy about it, but at least she could have been mostly fine with it by the time they got to Seattle.

Booth's grin ratcheted down a couple of notches, "Uh, because I called her after you left." He wasn't going to mention that he'd called her from the airport or that he'd already packed a suitcase and stowed it in his Bureau issued SUV before he'd picked her up just in case he'd been able to convince Bones to let him come along. The fact that he'd flashed his badge around to get onto a flight that left only an hour after hers was something else he wasn't going to mention.

Brennan narrowed her eyes at him, "Just when did you get here?" She wasn't exactly sure how long they'd been at the television station, but her lightning-speed mind reasoned that he had to have been on a flight shortly after hers to be standing right here in her hotel suite right this minute.

"Uh, about a half hour ago," Booth swallowed hard; apparently the danger wasn't over quite yet because he wasn't completely sure how to read the look on her face. "I'm staying in a room right across the hall." Of course the only reason that he wasn't staying at the Holiday Inn Express a little further uptown was because the FBI wasn't picking up the tab for the room, and it had taken quite a bit of convincing on his part to Bones' publicist that they were just partners and no, he was not staying with her in her suite. Although, given the size of it and the incredible view, in retrospect he reasoned that it could have worked...if Bones didn't kill him first that is.

Brennan just stared him down for a long moment and finally her features relaxed as she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, "I don't need security, Booth." Of course now that he was here she wasn't going to be completely rude and send him packing back to DC and there was a part of her that was actually glad he was here, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

Booth's expression had all the eagerness of a Golden Retriever puppy, "Ok, so what's on the agenda?" He was after all coordinating her security for this trip and he hadn't yet connected with her publicist so he thought he'd just let Bones inform him of their schedule.

"I have an interview on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' that we have to leave for in about an hour and I'm supposed to go over these horrible interview questions with Natalie after lunch," Brennan handed Booth the questions; she had planned to just answer them however seemed logical, but reporters didn't eve seem to be able to just stick to the questions, they always seemed to want more information.

"Where are we going for lunch?" Booth had eaten on the plane, but the airline 'snack' he'd been provided in coach would barely satisfy a two-year old.

"Actually Natalie ordered me room service; you can call them if you're hungry and just add it to my order," Brennan gestured towards the phone.

While Booth waited for the hotel operator to answer the phone, he scanned the list of questions, "Whoa, Bones, can they ask you this?" Clearly these people had no shame asking very pointed questions about whether their relationship really was strictly professional.

"If you're referring to the question about whether you and I are romantically involved, apparently they plan to," Brennan furrowed her brow again, "I was going to talk to them about that and tell them that I didn't plan on answering it."

"If you _don't_ answer it, they'll just assume that you're hiding something," Booth suddenly changed his tone, "Sure I can hold." The rest of the questions were only slightly better, other than a question about him being the inspiration for Andy Lister which of course he was sure that he was; the questions seemed to focus more on Bones than her new book; not that she couldn't answer the questions about what it was like to be a forensic anthropologist partnered with an FBI agent or work at the Jeffersonian, but clearly some of these questions were a little too personal for his taste.

A knock sounded on the door and Brennan once again pulled herself off of the couch to answer the door.

This time is was room service. As the young man wheeled the cart in he smiled at Brennan, "Compliments of Ms. Wilson for you and Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan," and it was clear from the amount of food on the cart and the champagne on ice that Natalie had fully expected Booth to join Brennan for lunch in her suite.


	6. Chapter 6

Brennan pursed her lips together as the realization hit her that her publicist had all of the subtlety of a pit bull; at least Angela wasn't quite this overt in her attempts to push her and Booth together the way Natalie seemed to be trying. Clearly she was going to have to make it clear that she and Booth were simply partners; well partners that were very good friends, but that was as far as it went, outside of her fantasies that is, not that she was even going to mention that Freudian slip of a thought to Natalie. Damn psychology.

"Just how many people are you expecting for lunch?" Booth hadn't wasted any time at all; filling up a plate from the array of food from the cart; there seemed to be enough for at least six people. He noticed the champagne, assuming that it was to congratulate Bones on some milestone on her book and reached for a bottle of water instead since in his mind he was on duty and he had to be in top form to make sure that no one got close enough to Bones to even act crazy.

"I wasn't actually _expecting_ anyone," Brennan was making a list of things in her mind to discuss with Natalie, but even as she did she took Booth's lead and filled up a plate, grabbed a bottle of water and joined him on the couch to enjoy the view through the window of Puget Sound while they ate.

"Well it looks like your publicist thought you were expecting someone," Booth seemed slightly oblivious as he took a bite of a seared sea scallop and closed his eyes as he savored the flavor.

"She was clearly expecting that you were going to join me for lunch," Brennan remarked logically, after all, the young man that had delivered the food had said as much.

Booth's eyes flashed open, "How would she know that?" He had only decided a few moments before he'd knocked on her door that he would let her know that he was in Seattle to be her gun rather than just showing up in the lobby of the hotel and getting her all worked up right before they left for the television station.

"Well she knew that you were coming; something that I wish she'd told _me_ about when she picked me up at the airport by the way. And she seems convinced that you're the inspiration for Andy Lister in every sense of the word," Brennan rolled her eyes at the thought; she'd started writing her first novel before she'd even started working with Booth, so clearly he couldn't be the inspiration, even if he might fit the persona, and even if he might be the subject of more than a few dreams that she'd had; none of that meant that Booth and Andy Lister were one in the same.

"It's a natural assumption," Booth was convinced himself that he'd inspired Andy; hell, half of the squints had inspired characters in her novels. It seemed that she was the only one that didn't seem to realize it.

Brennan stared him down for a moment, "She thinks that you and I can't be just partners; she seems convinced that just like Kathy and Andy that..."

Booth interjected; his brows arched, "She thinks that we..." He couldn't quite bring himself to say what he was thinking. And now that he was thinking it, he wasn't sure he should be looking at Bones.

"...we should be having sex," Brennan completed both of their sentences as she nodded.

"We what?" Booth nearly choked on his food; taking a big gulp of water to try and cover up the fact that he wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly.

"What?" Brennan looked at Booth in confusion.

"You think we should have sex," Booth looked at her disbelievingly; not in his wildest fantasies did he think that it could happen quite like this, and in the next instant he was trying to banish his wildest fantasies in the interest of that proverbial line he'd drawn and their purely professional partnership.

'What?" Now it was Brennan's turn to look shocked and wide-eyed at the words that had come out of her partner's mouth, "No! I was just comparing us to Kathy and Andy...I mean Natalie must have assumed...the book."

Booth coughed; that damn scallop certainly did seem intent on taking him out right now, "Right, the book." He wasn't entirely sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

"Because the idea of you and I having sex is ridiculous," Brennan wished that she could have taken the words back as soon as she'd spoken them. The idea wasn't ridiculous at all, in fact now that she had the idea in the forefront of her mind, it seemed to be the antithesis of ridiculous; not that she was ever going to let that thought out of her mind so that it could skip right out her mouth for all the world to hear, or at least those who might be in the immediate vicinity.

Booth was immediately defensive about what she was inferring and spoke without giving any thought to what he was saying, "Why would that be ridiculous?" He regretted the words as they tumbled out and they seemed to hang in the air like a slow motion marquee as he realized that he should have simply agreed with her.

Brennan was momentarily flummoxed as she just stared at him and tried to process the implications of that little statement. Her normally lightning speed mind seemed to short circuit at the idea that Booth might think that the two of them having sex was a great idea and Angela's voice seemed to pop in from nowhere and interject something about it being a great team building exercise. Brennan blinked hard in an effort to permanently dislodge that thought so that there was no way it could reach her mouth.

Booth started to backpedal in hopes that he could try and dig himself out of the hole that seemed to have opened up on his side of the couch, "I mean we're both attractive people and I'm sure that Nancy...uh, Noreen..."

"Natalie," Brennan supplied as Booth seemed to fumble.

"Right, Natalie." He swallowed hard, "Uh, I'm sure that Natalie just assumed that two people who are as well formed as you and I are couldn't possibly keep their hands off of each other...so the idea isn't ridiculous at all...in theory." He hoped that it was enough to get rid of the awkwardness that had crept into the room.

The argument appealed to Brennan's rationality and her scientific mind, "Of course. It's a great theory; however, we can't overlook the human element and in this instance it doesn't fit the theory because you and I are partners...friends." She smiled at him and even though in the furthest corner of her mind she could hear a little voice calling her a liar, she seemed to be momentarily satisfied, especially since Booth seemed to buy it too.

"We're a team," Booth felt relieved as he clacked his water bottle against hers and smiled back at her. He was one damn smart FBI agent for thinking up a way to cover his ass all by himself otherwise that one stupid sentence might have turned this little trip to Seattle to provide security for Bones into the longest trip of his life.

"The best," Brennan smirked at him and took a long drink from her water bottle. Now all she had to do was give a television interview and not think about having sex with Booth.


	7. Chapter 7

"I am not going on television; this is about Bones and her new book, not about me," Booth was doing his best to convince Natalie Wilson that he had no intention of participating in the interview on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' that they were on the way to. He'd come out to Seattle simply to make sure that Bones had the right kind of security; the sort of security only he could provide. He hadn't signed up for appearing on television so he could be quizzed about whether or not he was seeing his partner regardless of the fact that both he and Bones had made it clear to her that their relationship was strictly platonic no matter that they seemed to spend nearly all of their time outside of work together.

"What better opportunity for the viewers to get some insight into the daily life of Dr. Temperance Brennan world renowned forensic anthropologist and best selling author if her real life FBI partner participates?" Natalie was not going to take 'no' for an answer; she couldn't have planned this better if she'd tried and since several of the questions that were supposed to be part of the interview addressed this very issue; why not have the man in question answer them directly?

"Booth's right, this is supposed to be about my new book, not about my partnership with him," Brennan wasn't really looking forward to the interview as it was, but she was sure that if Natalie somehow convinced Booth to go on camera that a whole new set of questions that she wasn't prepared for would be asked.

"Tempe dear," Natalie's smile was bordering on patronizing, "Once the television station gets wind that your partner is here, they're going to find some way to make him part of that interview whether you want to or not. Now wouldn't you rather go into it knowing ahead of time that you're going to have to answer some questions than being put on the spot on live TV?" The fact that she'd called ahead to alert them was not something she was going to mention to either of the people sitting across from her in the back of the limousine.

"How are they going to know I'm there?" Booth looked a little smug; clearly this Natalie had her own agenda. What wasn't clear to him was whether the agenda was simply promoting the latest book Bones had written or if it was being matchmaker to enhance her own career. Whatever it was, Booth wasn't really sure that he trusted this woman all that much.

"You look like an FBI agent," Natalie would have picked him out of a crowd because he oozed Andy Lister; well and he was far too good looking for a rent-a-cop.

Booth snorted out a bit of a laugh, "Obviously you haven't met too many FBI agents." Stevens was case in point; the man was portly and certainly wouldn't make the cover of any romance novel.

"Look, Booth is just here to provide security," Brennan narrowed her gaze at both Natalie and Booth, "Security that I don't need by the way." No matter that deep down she was glad that Booth was here, she was still annoyed that he'd finagled a way to come via her very nosey publicist who no doubt had jumped to her own conclusions about his motives. Motives, which at the moment, she herself was not completely sure of; clearly he was her friend and he claimed that he was looking out for her safety, but she was more than capable of taking care of herself and he knew that.

"Bones, trust me, you're focusing on your book tour, I'm focusing on watching your back. I'm here so you can just enjoy meeting your fans, unless they are a little too fanatical and that's where I come in," Booth flashed her one of his smiles that could charm the socks off of an Eskimo in the middle of a blizzard but usually didn't have quite the same effect on her.

Brennan simply rolled her eyes, "Booth, it's a book tour, not a murder investigation, I don't need you to watch my back." She felt the need to protest; if she left it up to him he probably wouldn't allow her to get out of bed in the morning without making sure that the proverbial boogey man hadn't taken up residence underneath it while she'd been dreaming. Of course that simple thought immediately made her think about Booth in her bedroom while she was sleeping and she naturally took the leap to the conversation they'd had earlier and what she was trying very hard to _not_ think about. She groaned inwardly; having Booth there for this interview was going to be extremely difficult with him looking so damn well formed.

"Bones, we're partners and that's what partners do," His tone was firm. Of course his rational was a bit flawed; what was true when they were working a case didn't really apply in a situation like this and he knew it, but right now he felt more than justified bending the rules because he was almost completely sure that her publicist was the one who had provided the questions to the television station and not the other way around.

"You two are going to make for a very interesting interview," Natalie tried to hide the glee in her eyes as they pulled up in front of the station; if this interview went well, she was going to make sure that it launched more interviews; maybe even a spot on Oprah as a book club read if she played her cards right. That would ensure that not only would it be best seller but that it would be a certifiable mega hit; then it was only a matter of time before she garnered a few more high profile clients that didn't mind answering questions about their personal lives on television.

"I'm not going on television," Booth protested again; if this woman thought she was going to make FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth do anything he didn't want to do she was sadly mistaken. He wasn't a Special Agent for no damn good reason and he leveled one of his best interrogation glares at her.

Natalie didn't flinch, "Would you rather prepare yourself for it or have a camera zoom in on you in the middle of the interview?" she had fully expected that both of them were going to resist this, but she was convinced that between the scenes Tempe had written between Kathy and Andy that left her feeling the need for a moist towelette for her mind and the way that she and Agent Booth seemed to look at each other that it was only a matter of time before a little spark would turn them into a proverbial inferno of passion. What would it hurt if she gave them a well needed shove? And if it happened to help her career on the way, well way to go, Natalie.

Brennan's brow was furrowed, "She's probably right, Booth." As much as she didn't want to admit it, if a reporter was intent on talking to Booth, they would make a point to do it so that he would look like a fool if he refused to answer the questions and then, just like he'd said earlier in her hotel suite, it would look like he was hiding something.

"Now you're on her side?" Booth looked at her incredulously; if he'd known that flying across the country to make sure that Bones didn't get into trouble would lead to something like this, he might have just waited to come until after her interview had aired.

"There are no sides here," Natalie's smile was restrained but victorious as she glanced out at the snow that was swirling; hopeful that the forecast was right and this really would turn to rain by morning.

"The hell there aren't," Booth wasn't happy about this at all and he shot Natalie a look that clearly conveyed that he thought she was up to something and he was on to her.

"I'm sure if we simply just answer a few questions about how we work as partners that there won't be any need to answer any questions about a non-existent romantic relationship," Brennan wasn't so sure, but it was the truth and if she offered them the truth, surely they'd have to accept it.

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be that simple," Booth's tone had a decidedly sarcastic edge that neither Bones nor Natalie seemed to catch and as he followed the two ladies out of the limousine into the snow he felt almost as if he was being dragged along to face a firing squad.

Simple questions my ass.


	8. Chapter 8

It was apparent to Booth that no matter how much he protested, he wasn't going to talk his way out of participating in the interview that Bones was giving on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' and he wasn't very happy about. He was less than thrilled about the prospect of being on television for several reasons; first of all he was supposed to be providing security for Bones and he didn't think he could do that adequately while he was on camera; secondly, other than believing that he was the inspiration for Agent Andy Lister and the book being dedicated to him, he had nothing at all to do with 'Bone Blindness'; and third, deep down he was afraid that he would say something that might lead everyone to believe that he really did have a thing for his partner because they'd misinterpreted his words. He was sure if that happened that Bones would kill him. He let out a frustrated sigh and leaned over towards his partner who looked about as thrilled about getting ready to be on TV as he did, "Why do I get the feeling that your publicist is the one we should be watching out for?"

Brennan looked at him quizzically, "I don't know what that means," she was reviewing the questions again and trying to think through what in the world she was going to say. Why people should be interested in anything she had to say that didn't pertain to the identification of remains was a mystery to her.

"It means, Bones, she's up to something and I think that something is you and I," he gestured between them to emphasize his point.

"She knows that you and I are just partners, Booth; I made it very clear," Brennan had told her the truth and why she seemed preoccupied with pushing the issue further was something she was going to have to discuss with her after this interview; they were due on camera in a few minutes and there simply wasn't time, besides, Natalie was already sitting in the studio audience.

"She's trying to create something where it doesn't exist to promote your book," Booth was aware that half of the guys he knew at the Bureau already thought he and Bones were involved and the other half thought it was only a matter of time, so it didn't come as too much of a shock that her publicist might be playing the same angle, but he did find it incredibly annoying especially since he'd been roped into this damn interview too.

Brennan smirked at him, "Booth, you're good with people, just think of this interview as an interrogation; don't let them get the upper hand before you even walk in there." She had learned a thing or two being partners with Special Agent Seeley Booth.

Booth's face seemed to transform; his furrowed brow relaxed a little and he let out a laugh of admiration, "That's good, Bones." This was just one more reason that he loved having her for a partner.

"I learned from the best," She smiled back at him; she really was glad that he was here and maybe having him as part of this interview would be a good thing. If nothing else, the friendly face would help her to relax while Molly Ng interviewed them.

"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth, you're up after the commercial break," A man who had identified himself earlier as Dan the producer gestured for them to follow him so that they would be ready to walk onto the set as soon as Molly introduced the story.

"How do I look, Bones," Suddenly, Booth wanted to make a good impression, not only for his partner, but he was also representing _his_ Federal Bureau of Investigation and he was sure that if the interview did _not_ go well that word would make its way back to Cullen and he'd get an earful at a very minimum.

"You look fine," Brennan wasn't sure that she had ever seen Booth look bad, even when he was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt, it was readily apparent that he was formed very, very well. Of course that was probably due in part because of her expertise as a forensic anthropologist and she was probably able to determine the type of physique that someone had at a simple glance; not that she'd simply glanced at Booth over the course of their partnership, she'd had the opportunity to study him quite a bit and she'd come to the conclusion that he was extremely attractive. She mentally smacked herself; the last thing she needed to think about was how attractive Booth and his strong symmetrical body were as they were walking out to do an interview on live television.

"Thanks, you look pretty good too," Booth was thankful that his brain had engaged before he'd spoken because otherwise he might have complimented her on how the color of her blouse seemed to make her eyes look just a little bit bluer. He swallowed hard as he heard them being called out onto the set.

"Let's give a warm Seattle welcome to Dr. Temperance Brennan and her real life FBI partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth," Molly Ng looked friendly and inviting; something that had helped her gain the trust and admiration of her viewing audience. She shook both of their hands and gestured for them to be seated before launching into her first question, "So you're here to promote your new book 'Bone Blindness' and you've brought along the real life inspiration for Agent Andy Lister," Molly smiled at the pair.

"Booth isn't the inspiration for Andy Lister," Brennan thought she'd made this clear when she'd made that brief appearance on the noon news.

"I think I am," Booth had a smug grin on his face as he seemed to play right into Molly's hands.

"So, which is it?" Molly seemed delighted at this little turn of events.

"Booth is _not_ the inspiration for Andy Lister," Brennan repeated, shooting Booth a bit of a glare, "I started writing these books before Booth and I started working together." Of course that wasn't completely true; they _had_ worked together, but at the point she'd started writing her first book, she and Booth hadn't become official partners.

Booth let out a soft chuckle, "I'd say that Andy's a pretty good representation of me, Bones." He felt like he was in control of how the questions were going and so far things seemed to be going very well.

Molly posed another question to Brennan, "Well I know that a question that's been on the minds of many of our viewers is whether or not your partnership parallels the relationship between Kathy and Andy in the book." Clearly these two had to be involved; you'd have to be blind not to see it and live television was the perfect vehicle to get to the bottom of it.

"No, the book is a work of fiction; Booth and I are just partners; we have a strictly professional relationship," Brennan felt herself floundering just a bit.

Booth immediately interjected, "I wouldn't say that it's _strictly_ professional, I mean we are good friends, you don't spend as much time with someone the way Bones and I do and not become friends, but that's all it is," He felt a sinking feeling that the control he'd felt was very quickly slipping through his fingers as he noticed doubt on Molly Ng's face, "Really."

"Ok, so it's not _entirely_ professional, but it's not unprofessional either. I mean there's a line that really doesn't need to be there that we'd never cross," Brennan hoped that she sounded convincing because this was an area that she wasn't entirely convinced about herself.

"Never," Booth was mentally kicking himself; he should have used his badge to get himself out of this interview because he was _not_ the captain of this ship.

Molly seemed to hone right in on it and just smiled, "But you'd like to."

"We're professionals," Booth defended even as he could sense the panic welling up in Bones as she seemed to stiffen where she sat next to him. He was going to try and remain calm for both of them despite the fact that he felt as if they had a group of imaginary piranhas nipping at their toes while a proverbial school of sharks circled them looking for an opportunity to close in.


	9. Chapter 9

"My friendship with Agent Booth has nothing to do with my books or how well we do our jobs; that's between him and I, not you or your viewers," Brennan tried to quell her panic and she repeated Booth's statement, "As Booth said, we're professionals, and it's that professionalism that helps us to become the last voice of the victims. Without what we do, people wouldn't be able to get the answers they need to know what happened to their loved ones. Writing these books provides an outlet for me for the horrific things we see on a daily basis," Brennan made it clear that the questioning into what the nature of her relationship with Booth was over; the mood in the studio had shifted and Molly Ng smiled softly as she shifted gears as well and began to ask about forensic anthropology.

For about a millisecond, Seeley Booth considered kissing his partner for the words that had come out of her mouth that seemed to have turned the tide of the entire interview. Of course if he _had_ kissed her that would have completely derailed any defense that either one of them had that their partnership was completely platonic and as he half listened to her answering questions about how her expertise as a forensic anthropologist gave her a unique insight into the genre of book she wrote, he began to question why his impulse was to kiss her. Why not give her a firm handshake or a high five, or maybe even a pat on the back or a shared smile? The fact that he'd thought about kissing her unsettled him and he forced himself to concentrate on what she was saying rather than on the way her lips were moving as she talked..

Brennan felt much more at ease now that she was discussing her true passion, "Even the smallest disruption in the structure of a bone can provide clues that help lead us to who is responsible." She glanced over at Booth, "Agent Booth's superior investigative skills combined with my expertise and the expertise of my team at the Jeffersonian has allowed us to solve crimes that might otherwise remain a mystery." She wasn't sure how she had been able to change the subject despite the fact that she was keenly aware of just how attractive her partner was and how thin that proverbial line between them seemed to be.

"Bones…uh, Dr. Brennan is right," Booth cleared his throat as he realized that this wasn't the first time during the interview that he'd referred to her by her nickname and he was surprised that she hadn't called him on it, "Her services to the FBI have been invaluable."

"I'm assuming that you calling Dr. Brennan 'Bones' has something to do with her profession," Molly wasn't quite ready to let go of any tangible romantic connection she might be able to highlight should the opportunity present itself.

Booth thought carefully about how he was going to answer this question, "Our jobs are dangerous; and when you work closely with someone in situations like that, a nickname is sometimes easier to use than their professional title," he could just imagine how many times she might have been shot by now if he'd had to say 'Dr. Temperance Brennan with a zillion advanced degrees, could you please duck so that the bullet whizzing by doesn't strike you in the Latin name for your head?'; he nearly snortled at the thought, but managed something between a serious expression and a smirk instead.

"I'm assuming that the real danger you encounter on the job is at least part of what inspires the plots for your best selling novels, Dr. Brennan," Molly directed her attention back to the book as Dan the producer gestured that it was almost time to cut away to a commercial.

"Yes, I suppose it does," Brennan agreed, "However, the crimes in my novels are purely fiction…I don't use crimes we've actually investigated." She didn't want anyone to think that she was profiting from the deaths of innocent people; especially in light of her own family situation.

"Well, thank you, Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth. We'll be back with your questions and questions from our studio audience after this commercial break," Molly smiled a bit too widely at the camera.

"And we're clear," Dan called out.

Booth leaned over and whispered to Bones, "Well that went a hell of a lot better than I thought it would." Of course Booth had expected something close to the Spanish Inquisition and he wasn't so sure he wouldn't have cracked and confessed to something that he wasn't willing to confess to himself quite yet.

"It's not over yet," Brennan whispered under her breath; hopefully no one in the audience would come up with embarrassing questions or worse yet that Natalie wouldn't take it upon herself to move the line of questioning right back to where they'd managed to turn it away from.

"Ok, so in this next segment we're going to take a few phone calls and we like to offer the same opportunity to our studio audience. And if it's ok with you, Dr. Brennan, we'd like to have you autograph copies of your book for those who get a question on the air." Molly knew that they had about 60 seconds left until they were back on the air and she wanted her guests to be prepped at least somewhat.

"Yes, sure, that would be fine," Brennan hoped that the questions would stay focused on her new book rather than revert back to questions about her and Booth. The truth was she used to be certain what she thought about her partner, but the longer they'd worked together the closer they'd gotten and had forged a relationship that was difficult to define. They were definitely more than just partners and part of her wondered if they weren't more than just friends too except for that very fine line that hadn't been crossed because she felt far more connected to Booth than any man that she'd ever dated. She glanced over at him and noticed him adjusting his tie, "You look fine."

"Tight, it feels a little tight," Booth looked uncomfortable and he was sure that the prospect of having more questions fired at him that might center on his partnership with Bones was the cause of it; he had glanced at the studio audience and with nearly eighty percent of made up of it women who probably Tivo'ed _Desperate Housewives_ on a weekly basis he was sure that they would love nothing more than to play Fluster the FBI Agent.

Concern flickered across Brennan's face, "You know ties can constrict blood flow and cause elevated blood pressure; why such an archaic tradition persists when it's not necessarily healthy is beyond me." She reached over and loosened it slightly; smirking when she realized that there was plenty of room between Booth and his tie. The usually unflappable FBI agent seemed to be finding the pressure of a live television interview a little too much to take.

"Thanks, Bones, that's fine now," Booth certainly didn't feel any better, in fact now that the hordes of romance novel reading vultures in the audience had witnessed the little interaction he was sure that there was a target on his head, or maybe there was a flashing marquee that scrolled a message that said no matter what came out of his mouth, he had a thing for his partner so please, push me till I confess.

"Ok, and we're back in five, four, three, two..." Dan the producer mouthed the word one and then they were live once again.

"Welcome back to 'Good Afternoon Seattle', I'm Molly Ng and today we have with us Dr. Temperance Brennan, noted forensic anthropologist and best selling author along with her real life FBI partner Special Agent Seeley Booth. Her newest book is called 'Bone Blindness' and can be found in stores now." Molly smiled at the camera where she stood out in the studio audience holding up the book, while another camera zoomed in on Booth and Brennan, "I have Kate here who has a question for Dr. Brennan."

A rather blond and perky soccer mom looking woman smiled almost conspiratorially, "Dr. Brennan, what I'd like to know is why in the world do you have line you say you can't cross when your partner is as delicious looking as Agent Booth is?" The sound of clapping and a few hoots erupted in the studio as Kate sat down with a rather Cheshire grin on her face.

"Now ladies, we've already covered that topic," Molly Ng had a grin to match the hordes of women in the audience as she regarded Booth and Brennan.

Booth didn't dare glance over at Bones; he was sure that she probably had a deer in the headlights expression on her face, but he was also sure that between the constricting feeling around his neck and all of the hot lights in the studio beating down on him that if he looked over at her he'd pass out and then all of Seattle would know for sure what he'd been in denial about for almost three years.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ok, just for the record, I am never participating in another interview like that again," Booth was still flustered as they made their way out of the television station. The mostly female studio audience had latched onto the possibility of a romantic link between the fictional characters and the real life partners sitting in front of them and they didn't seem to want to let it go. By the time the interview wrapped up, Booth was afraid that he'd said more than a few things that he was going to regret and Bones had started sounding a bit short as she kept repeating herself. For her part, Natalie looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary; a look that Booth honed in on immediately as they all walked through the snow, which was falling rather heavily now, and then climbed into the back of the limousine.

"I think the interview went fairly well," Natalie was trying to put a positive spin on it; hopefully she could convince them both that the flurry of personal questions on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' would generate enough talk around town that they would have a better than average turnout at the book signings and sales would go through the roof.

Being ever the empirical rationalist, Brennan interjected her own observation, "Most of those questions weren't even on the list." She had been prepared to talk about the book and about her work as a forensic anthropologist, but the barrage of questions from the studio audience asking why she and Booth didn't have a romantic relationship was something that she wasn't prepared for on any level.

"That interview did _not_ go well," Booth narrowed his gaze at Natalie and pointed his finger at her, "You set us up just so you could sell a few more books." He was not thrilled at all about this publicist that Bones had hired and he made a mental note to do a full background check on her once they were back in DC. Surely there had to be someone out there that could promote her books that would stay out of her personal life; and quite frankly, stay out of his as well.

"Booth, I'm sure she didn't," Brennan wanted to give her publicist the benefit of the doubt until she could have a conversation and make sure it was clear that from now on she would screen the questions if she even bothered to agree to another television interview at all.

"Bones, whose side are you on here?" Booth looked at her a bit incredulously; it was obvious to him that Natalie was doing her best to use what she perceived as some sort of unresolved sexual tension between him and Bones to promote the book. Deep down he knew that there was something between him and his partner that went well beyond simply being partners in a professional capacity, but that was for the two of them to explore together when they were both ready to stop being in denial; something that he was only coming to grips with that maybe he was a lot more ready than he'd ever thought.

"I'm not taking sides, Booth, I just don't think she had any control over what questions those women were asking," Brennan was glad to be out of the television station; she just wanted to go back to her hotel and relax a little, maybe even take a soak in that tub if there was time before the book signing that was scheduled for the evening. The whole line of questioning had brought to the forefront of her mind something that she hadn't wanted to think about. Perhaps there was more to her relationship with Booth than mere professional partnership and friendship. She wasn't blind; she noticed how well formed he was and she had to admit that even when his alpha male tendencies were directed at her that it was flattering on some level. She trusted him more than she trusted anyone else except for maybe Angela, but there was that line he said couldn't be crossed. The rational thing to do here was to keep the line in place unless he could come up with a logical argument as to why it could be crossed.

"That's right, Tempe dear, I had no idea that anyone would pick up on the chemistry between you two," Her smile had a hint of a smirk in it and she was laughing inside at the statement, maybe people who were blind wouldn't pick up on the chemistry, anyone else could see it from a mile away.

"There is no chemistry," Booth interjected with a bit too much emphasis, "We're partners, we're friends, but that's it." This woman was infuriating and he should have been on high alert the moment he spoke to her on the phone when she had the audacity to suggest that he share the suite with Bones. "We work to our full symbiotic potential, but there is no _chemistry_."

"You know, Agent Booth, denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Natalie had a delighted smirk on her face at just how much this fierce FBI man was unsettled at the thought of being romantically linked to his very beautiful partner. She could see it, the host of 'Good Afternoon Seattle' could see it, and the entire studio audience could see it; but it was only a matter of time before the two in question figured it out. Apparently her attempt at a little shove in the right direction had been a little too forceful.

"It's the _Nile_ River. Not De Nile," Brennan had heard people say this more than once and she wondered whether geography was being properly taught in the public schools anymore as she glanced out the window of the limousine at the swirling snow.

Booth nearly snorted out a laugh at how squinty Bones sounded, but kept it in check in the interest of not letting this whole topic get further out of control. He narrowed his gaze at Natalie again, "Whatever you think is between Bones and I; it's between Bones and I, not you. I don't care if you're her publicist and I don't care if you're just trying to sell her books; _this_ is not going to be the way you do that." He gestured to emphasize his point that _she_ had nothing to do with _them_ and whatever _they_ were.

Brennan glanced over at her partner, "Booth, I'm sure she understands that you and I are just partners," she glanced over at Natalie with a single eyebrow raised to emphasize that if Booth was in fact right in his assessment of the situation that it had better never happen again. Ever.

"If she understood that, Bones, she wouldn't keep pushing the issue now would she?" Booth was ready to employ his best interrogation techniques if need be if she didn't very quickly gain an understanding of just how serious he was about this.

"Agent Booth, I think right now, you're the only one pushing the issue," Natalie wasn't the least bit intimidated by Booth; she had grown up in a family with four brothers who had all been in the Marines and all of them were much bigger than he was. The irony of his denial was rather amusing really and she suspected that he was much closer to admitting to himself that he and Dr. Brennan were a little more than just friendly colleagues.

"I am not _pushing_ the issue; there is no issue to push. I'm just trying to make sure you know that there's no issue. No chemistry. Partners. Friends. Nothing more," Booth articulated every syllable just in case she'd had difficulty hearing him before.

As they pulled up in front of the Edgewater, Natalie turned her attention to Brennan, "Tempe dear, you have a few hours until the book signing tonight. This weather might be a problem because Rob says that most people here in Seattle have no idea how to drive in snow." She let out a prolonged sigh as she looked indignantly at the snow, "I'll let you know shortly if the signing at Elliot Bay Book Company is still on as soon as I can get in touch with them."

Booth felt like he'd had the wind sucked out of his sails and he furrowed his eyebrows together as the trio walked into the hotel lobby. At the moment he was feeling rather useless and he didn't like it at all; he was here because Bones needed some real security, but at the moment he felt like maybe he needed a little security of his own against Natalie the publicist, or more accurately, Natalie the matchmaker from Hell. He of course was going to have to go to confession for just thinking that, but it would be well worth it if it would keep her and her nose out of his business.

"Fine, I'll just be in my room," Brennan was glad for the opportunity to have some solitude; she needed to clear her head after that interview. She glanced over at Booth and noticed that he looked like he was still off kilter himself, "Actually, why don't you call my cell phone, I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"In the snow?" Natalie looked aghast, in this weather, a walk was the last thing she'd want to do.

"I'd like to see a little bit of the city," Brennan answered matter-of-factly, of course Booth would insist on coming with her and perhaps they would both get a chance to clear their heads and then they'd be laughing about the interview by the time they got back.

"Suit yourself, Tempe dear," Natalie sighed and then smiled and then turned in the direction of her room to make a few phone calls.

After she was safely out of earshot, Booth interjected, "As your security, Bones, I can't let you go by yourself." What was she thinking wandering around a strange new city in the snow? He knew that although Seattle wasn't the biggest city, it certainly didn't have the smallest crime rate and a beautiful woman like her was a natural target for trouble; heaven knew that she found enough of it in DC.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Booth," Brennan smirked at him as if she was letting him in on her plan as Natalie disappeared around the corner, "but if you want to come along, you're welcome to join me."


	11. Chapter 11

The snowflakes swirled around them as they walked slowly along the waterfront. Neither of them really knew where they were headed, but away from the hotel and away from Natalie just then sounded like a little piece of heaven. Brennan was the one that broke the silence, "She's a little overbearing isn't she?"

"You think," Booth couldn't hide the sarcasm in his voice; he'd had his fill of this woman's antics and if she thought she was going to try and pull something else, well she had truly underestimated Special Agent Seeley Booth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He puffed his chest out just a little bit to emphasize this particular thought to himself.

"I'm not really in a position to be too picky considering what happened to my last publicist," Not that it was logical for anyone to conclude that simply because they chose to represent Dr. Temperance Brennan that they'd end up murdered and covered with fire ants, but she could certainly understand their hesitancy. Besides, up until now, Natalie had been great to have as a publicist; once she made it clear that whatever _was_ or _wasn't_ going on between her and Booth was not material for future interviews she was sure things would be fine.

"Bones, you're a best selling author; a New York Times Best Seller List best selling author; that should entitle you to something," If it was up to Booth, Natalie would have been fired already, but that unfortunately was not his call to make; although he could certainly share his opinion about the matter. The woman was pushier than Angela Montenegro had ever thought about being and far less subtle; at least Angela's motives weren't completely suspect the way Natalie's were.

Brennan smirked at him; her hands shoved deep down into the pockets of her coat, "So she got a little out of hand...I'm going to make sure she knows that it had better never happen again." She did not want the stunt her publicist pulled to affect her working relationship with Booth and even more than that, she didn't want it to affect her friendship with him. He had been completely right about at least one thing in the limousine; whatever was between she and Booth was between she and Booth, not Natalie, not the audience of 'Good Afternoon Seattle', not anyone but the two of them.

"It sure as hell better not," Booth blew out a frustrated breath. There was a lot more at stake here than just being embarrassed on live television; the reality was that regardless of any line that he might have drawn between them, the intention behind having the damn line in the first place had been crossed a long time ago. As much as he wanted to believe that keeping their relationship simply platonic could protect her he knew that deep down it really wasn't the truth at all. Sure he was the brash FBI agent and she was the brilliant scientist and they made formidable team, but she encountered nearly as much danger as he did in the course of their investigations and no amount of drawing lines was going to change that. He was coming to the realization that his imaginary line was more to protect himself from the possibility of her rejecting him than any real danger that they'd already faced while doing their jobs.

"You know if you hadn't insisted on coming out here this wouldn't have happened," Brennan was just stating a fact; she wasn't upset that he'd come, in fact she was actually glad that he was there. Despite his alpha male need to feel like he was there to protect her, she was enjoying his company; disastrous television interview aside.

"So it's my fault that your publicist tried to feed us to the daytime TV sharks?" Booth looked at her incredulously. How she could be blaming him for this just didn't make any sense to him at all. He was merely looking out for her safety; it was her publicist that decided to make something out of nothing. He wasn't the one that had drawn a comparison between himself and Andy Lister. Ok, so maybe he _had_ said that he thought he was the inspiration for the fictitious FBI agent, but it was a natural assumption. The rest of it was completely the doing of one Natalie Wilson. His brows were knit together in frustration as they crossed the street, heading towards a very long set of stairs that promised to lead them to the world famous Pike Place Market.

"I wasn't blaming you, Booth; but it's a fact that if you weren't here, you wouldn't have been with me on TV," Brennan's face clouded at his reaction to her statement.

He had to concede that she was right, but he wasn't happy about it, "Just because I'm here doesn't mean that I should have been on TV with you in the first place. That was all your publicist's doing." What had started out as a nice walk was turning into a verbal sparring match and he wasn't sure how to stop it.

"Which I'm sure she understands will never happen again," Brennan glanced over at him as they climbed the stairs, "We know the truth and that's what's really important here." She offered a smile hoping that they could just drop the subject.

"Yeah, we do, don't we," Booth smiled back at her not at all confident that he really knew what the truth was or what it was that he really wanted. Somehow he knew though that simply being her partner and even just her friend didn't seem to be enough, but he had no idea how to go beyond that without ruining what had become one of the best friendships he'd ever had.

They entered the subdued chaos of the lower part of the market building and continued up the stairs until they found themselves at the main level; it seemed that even snow falling couldn't deter people from shopping at the open air market. The cacophony of people yelling something about fish filled the air and a large salmon seemed to fly through the air from one fish monger to another garnering applause from the crowd that had gathered to witness what seemed to be a quirky tourist attraction. Booth could almost hear the gears turning in the brain of his beautiful partner as she probably carefully catalogued the anthropological significance of such an event. They watched as several more fish were flung and then moved on in some sort of silent agreement to see what else the market had to offer.

As they moved from kiosk to kiosk the cold and the swirling snow seemed to lure them across the street where a Starbucks beckoned and with a hint of a smirk Brennan regarded her partner, "It never ceases to amaze me that these stores are just about everywhere."

"This is the first one," Booth looked rather pleased with himself for even knowing that; of course he'd ended up sitting next to someone who worked for Starbucks on his flight west and had learned far more about the coffee company than he'd ever wanted to. But right now he was glad that he'd been overloaded with coffee trivia because he was about to impress his partner.

Brennan looked at him oddly, "I don't know what that means."

"This is the very first Starbucks store ever opened," Booth grinned at her as they inched forward in line and he filled her in on the conversation he'd had with his seatmate on the plane. By the time they were seated at a table by the window so they'd have a great view of the snow, they were both sipping eggnog lattes and had fallen into an easy banter.

"This is nice," Brennan couldn't help but smile across the table at Booth. As much as she had started out this trip feeling a little off kilter, she was glad that he was here to share this crazy leg of her book tour with her. In fact if she was being honest with herself, there really was no one else she would rather have here with her than Booth; not just Booth her partner, or even Booth her friend, but the Booth she hadn't quite defined that she could have coffee with and with whom she seemed to share things that she hadn't really shared with anyone else before. That was the Booth that she was glad was there and somehow it made this trip a little less lonely and suddenly she found herself wishing that the book tour was just a little bit longer; a completely irrational thought when she considered how much work there was to be done in DC.


	12. Chapter 12

As fate would have it, Seattle hadn't seen snow like this in some time and so despite the forecast which called for rain to wash it all away by morning it looked like a winter wonderland as Booth and Brennan walked back towards the hotel before the evening's scheduled book signing. Although as they made their way down the long set of stairs behind the Pike Place Market slipping and sliding a little bit, they began to wonder if the streets were going to be clear enough for the limousine to get around town to wherever the book signing was located.

The walk and the coffee had done Brennan a world of good as the afternoon's chaotic interview seemed to be in her far distant memory. She glanced over at Booth as they finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, "Somehow I didn't think about having to go back down in this when we climbed up there earlier." Her normally rational mind seemed to be blipping in and out on its own whim and she wasn't quite sure what was causing it.

Booth winced a little as he dusted off the back of his jeans; the last two steps had been especially slick and he'd ended up right on his butt, "At least we didn't have an audience." He smirked at her; he could handle falling down in front of her far better than he could withstand question after question regarding why he hadn't made a move on his partner. By the time they made it back to the hotel, the snow seemed to be coming down even harder and both of them were glad when they'd finally made it to the overhang just outside the front door of the hotel.

Booth was dusting snow off of his jacket when he found Bones looking at him with an impish smirk on her face as she shook a little of the snow off of her jacket too, "What?"

"You missed a spot," Rather than point it out, she reached up and dusted the snow out of his hair, earning a grin from her partner and suddenly realizing that she was acting far more on impulse than logic and reason would dictate.

"You did too," Booth wasn't about to admit to any flutter that he might have felt when she'd tousled his hair in an effort to remove the snowflakes and he wasn't quite sure what possessed him to reach over and brush a little of the snow that was still clinging to her hair before he tucked a stray lock behind her ear.

Brennan felt a sudden flip of sorts deep in the pit of her stomach and she immediately brushed it off; surely all of that seafood they'd eaten earlier had something to do with it, or maybe it was the eggnog latte. She smiled at Booth and then shoved her hands into her pockets before gesturing with her head at the doorway to the lobby, "I should find Natalie and see if the book signing is still on for tonight."

"Yeah," Booth smiled back at her; in the back of his mind he didn't think that there was any way that the book signing would go forward; at least not if the people in Starbucks were any indication of the general population of Seattle. It seemed that while a snowstorm like this was a simple inconvenience in a place like DC, out here in Seattle where there were hills that rivaled San Francisco it didn't take much snow at all to paralyze the city.

Brennan didn't have to look far at all for Natalie because as she turned to head down the hallway her publicist was walking in her and Booth's direction with a rather pleased little grin on her face.

"Tempe dear," Natalie looked at Booth with very thinly veiled delight that he seemed to have joined her on her walk around town in the snow; clearly the way these two spent time together, it was only a matter of time before they woke up and smelled the romance.

"Natalie," Brennan had color in her cheeks from being out in the cold air and as she greeted her publicist she unzipped her jacket, "what's going on with the book signing tonight?"

"About that," Natalie looked less than thrilled, "Apparently you get a little bit of snow in Seattle and people here don't know how to drive. I'm hoping to reschedule if this snow lets up." She had gone to all of this trouble of setting up signings at several of Seattle's larger bookstores and even one across Lake Washington over in Bellevue, supposedly somewhere close to where Microsoft guru Bill Gates lived. Now all of the appearances were in question and she was wondering if she shouldn't just cancel the whole damn thing.

"I guess I can just check in with the Jeffersonian then," Brennan was actually relieved that the signing had been cancelled. Between the flight, the interview, and the walk that she and Booth had just gone on in the snow, she was hoping to just relax and do some work.

"Bones, I'm sure they're doing just fine without you," Booth was mildly amused that she didn't seem to be able to just leave and enjoy her time away without checking in on dead bodies. Even her so-called vacations usually revolved around digging bones out of the ground or identifying victims of some sort of civil war in some far flung corner of the world.

Brennan's lower lip seemed to pout out thoughtfully, "I did check in with Angela earlier and she said they'd call if they needed anything." Of course without work she wasn't sure what she was going to do with a free evening; especially with snow falling outside in a city that didn't seem to be able to function very well with it sticking to the roads.

"See, they're fine then. Angela's right, they'd call if they needed something; heaven knows they never hesitate to call any other time," Booth almost said that last little bit under his breath because it was true; most of the squints had impeccable timing, impeccably bad that is. No wonder he had to suppress the urge to shoot them now and then.

Natalie smiled; while these two had been off wandering around in the snow, she'd been working very hard to orchestrate a few things to push them closer together, albeit a bit more subtly than she had earlier at the television station. Obviously that tactic was never going to work with these two, but she was sure that it would boost book sales in spite of it. "Now, Tempe dear, I've made reservations in the hotel restaurant for dinner at seven; I've got to try and reorganize this signing schedule so you two will have to go ahead without me. A little dinner and some relaxation will be good for you because as soon as this snow melts we've got to hit the pavement running."

"I actually prefer kick boxing," Brennan remarked in all seriousness; besides, with the weather outside going for a run wasn't exactly a pleasant thought, especially when she considered just how much slipping and sliding she and Booth had done on their walk back from Pike Place Market.

Booth leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "She just meant that the schedule was going to be a little busier because we have less time; she didn't actually mean running, it's just an expression." He was amused that despite how smart and beautiful Bones was that she didn't have a clue sometimes about figures of speech.

Brennan's brow furrowed and she whispered back to Booth as Natalie turned and walked back in the general direction of her room, "Then why didn't she just say that?"

It was all Booth could do to not laugh at her outright; if she thought that some of the women he had dated were a little ditzy, right then she could compete on equal footing with them. He casually slung an arm over her shoulder and propelled her with him down the hallway in the general direction of their rooms, "C'mon, Bones, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that I hear a change of clothes calling my name."

"Clothes don't actually talk," Brennan knew that he was using another figure of speech, but she preferred to think that she had control over the clothes, not the other way around. She rolled her eyes at him to emphasize the irrationality of his statement.

"Yeah, I know that, but my ass is kind of wet from falling on those steps," Booth didn't hold back his laugh this time and he shook his head in amusement at his partner who really didn't seem to get how endearing she could be just by opening her mouth.


	13. Chapter 13

"I think your publicist planned this," Booth gestured between himself and Bones. Their table was along with window of the restaurant in a secluded corner where there was plenty of dim candlelight and a waiter who very discretely made sure that they didn't lack for anything. Clearly he thought this was a contrived attempt to create a romantic evening; something that he was going to take kicking and screaming, well kicking and screaming inside anyway since it hadn't been his idea.

"Of course she planned it," Brennan looked at Booth quizzically, "She told us that she'd made dinner reservations, just that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to join us while she tried to reschedule a few things." Of course she had taken note of the fact that the table had only been set for two and that the waiter had smiled as if he knew something she didn't when she mentioned that they might have someone joining them later, but she wasn't about to let on to Booth. The day had already had enough drama in that arena without bringing it up at dinner.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant," Booth inwardly rolled his eyes at how oblivious his partner could be sometimes.

Brennan knew exactly what he meant and she took a sip of her wine before setting the glass down and addressing him, "I know that she seems to be trying to push us together; but as I said earlier, we know the truth so it really doesn't matter what she does." She offered Booth a smile and raised her glass in his direction, "We can just enjoy a nice dinner between partners." She was doing her best to not think of this as anything else but a very nice dinner between her and one of her best friends; there was no need to even think about the fact that his facial features were symmetrical and well defined and that his eyes seemed even browner in the candlelight.

Booth seemed to catch the glint in her eye and let out a soft laugh and clinked his wine glass with her, "Partners." Despite this sort of unspoken agreement between them he knew that this issue wasn't going to just go away all of its own accord; in the back of his mind he would almost swear that there was a subtle shift going on in whatever this thing was between them. He knew it and if he didn't know better, he'd swear that she knew it too. Or maybe it was all just his imagination and he needed to just keep things status quo and keep that imaginary line intact; at least for now.

The ringing of a cell phone seemed to interrupt the moment and both of them reached for their phones until Brennan came up with hers, "Brennan."

"_Hey, Sweetie, how are things going out there in Seattle?" There was a definite hint of a hidden agenda in Angela's voice._

She raised both eyebrows, "Hey, Angela, did you guys need me for something?" There was a little wistfulness in her voice as if she was just looking for an excuse to extricate herself from this book tour to take a red-eye back to DC to work a real case.

"_No, I'm just checking up on my best friend," Angela was doing her best to see if she could just get Brennan to admit to what she already knew thanks to the sister of Dan the security guard who just so happened to live in Seattle and just so happened to see the entire interview with Booth and Brennan on TV that afternoon; an interview that she herself had finished watching only a few minutes ago. "I'm not interrupting anything important am I?"_

She furrowed her brow a bit, "No, I'm just eating dinner." Of course the reality was that Angela _was_ interrupting something that she was sure to misinterpret if she told her about it; she wasn't even sure if her friend knew that Booth was in Seattle and she would surely take that tidbit of information and run with it so she saw no need to bring it up.

"_Oh, are you eating alone?" It was all Angela could do to contain herself and not just jump right to the point._

"No, actually I'm not," Brennan glanced over at Booth who seemed to be unusually quiet as he alternately glanced out the window and watched her talk on the phone as if he didn't want anyone, especially anyone at the Jeffersonian, knowing that he was there. That in and of itself made her inwardly question why he was really there; providing her security on her book tour was not in his job description and she knew it; although it was something that seemed typically Booth.

"_Oh, hot guy?" Angela should have known that she wouldn't volunteer the information; she was going to have to be a bit more specific._

"Angela, just because I'm not having dinner alone does not mean that I'm eating with a hot guy," Brennan wasn't sure how Angela did it; she seemed to know things that she shouldn't be able to. Not that she believed in the ability to read minds; it wasn't something that could be proven scientifically, but Angela certainly came close.

"Bones, that hurt," Booth immediately interjected.

"_Bren, let me talk to Booth," It was time to put all of her cards on the table and she was sure that Agent Hot Stuff was right there with her._

Brennan inwardly groaned and she let out a resigned sigh and held her phone out to Booth, "Angela wants to talk to you." Of course, why hadn't she considered that the interview they'd given was on probably available on the station's website? Clearly Angela had decided to see how the interview went and she discovered that Booth had somehow ended up in Seattle.

"Hello," Booth wasn't afraid of Angela Montenegro; ok, maybe he was just a little bit afraid of her when it came to how psychic she seemed to be about certain things.

"_I had no idea that you were going to Seattle with Bren," Angela couldn't hide the smile in her voice._

"I'm providing security, Angela," Booth swallowed hard.

"_You just keep telling yourself that," Angela decided to just put it all out on the table, "I know and you know that there is no legitimate reason for you to be there except that maybe you want to be there, or maybe she wants you to be there, so whichever it is, make sure that you make the most of it."_

"Why don't I just let you talk to Bones," Booth did not need Angela telling him what he was thinking about Bones or what to do about the feelings he didn't want to admit to, he was having a hard enough time fighting with himself about it without her pushing her advice on top of it all.

Brennan looked at Booth oddly as he seemed to gulp down his wine as she took the phone back from him, "Hey, Ang."

"_Sweetie, no matter why Booth is really there, I think you owe it to yourself to stop thinking too much and just go with the moment," Angela knew that if she said much more than that, that Brennan would just put her brain into overdrive and start over thinking it all, "Look at this trip to Seattle as an opportunity to test the waters."_

"Angela, I'm here for a book tour," Brennan was starting to get annoyed; Angela had been pushing Booth at her since she'd first started working with him and it wasn't that she hadn't entertained the idea several hundred times it was just that the longer she knew him the more complicated it had gotten.

"_Well according to the forecast, it's snowing there. I've been to Seattle in the snow, everything pretty much shuts down," Angela knew that her work was done for the time being, "I'll talk to you later, have a wonderful evening."_

Brennan rolled her eyes as she ended the call and she found herself looking everywhere but at Booth, "I think Angela saw the interview." Now that Angela had planted the idea firmly in her head she couldn't help but notice just how soft and firm Booth's lips looked. Damn reverse psychology or whatever the hell it was that Angela was using on her to get her to think about how strong and proportioned Booth's hands looked. Whatever this was made no rational sense whatsoever and she reasoned that she simply needed a nice long soak in that tub in her room followed by sleep so that she was back to herself by morning.

"Yeah, I should say so," Booth let out a chuckle as he turned his attention back to his meal and under his breath he muttered, "She makes Natalie look like an amateur."


	14. Chapter 14

The strains of the Beatles singing _Let It Be_ drifted softly through the speakers of the stereo in Brennan's suite as she sank into the deep tub, letting out a sigh as the warmth of the water seemed to envelope her in its embrace. She could still see snow falling outside through the window and she felt like this was the first time she'd truly been able to relax since she'd left DC that morning. So much had happened since then and she was glad that there had been no compelling reason to invite Booth in so she could rationally process what was going on inside of her mind although he looked as if he was somewhat disappointed that the evening had ended. They had lingered over dinner, leaving the restaurant well past nine and meandering back to their rooms with a stop in the lobby's lounge area to sit briefly by the fire and continue talking about nothing and everything; Parker, the Jeffersonian, Brennan's youth; what it was like for her being in foster care. They had talked many times about all of these things before today, but somehow this time it felt different and she wasn't sure she was ready to acknowledge exactly why; especially with a few questions still lingering in the air.

Why had Booth flown out to Seattle and made it his business to provider her with protection that she most certainly did not need? It was true that there had been several occasions since they'd started working together that he'd dropped whatever he was doing to be there for her; the most notable was coming to New Orleans when she'd been accused of murder, but that's what partners did for each other. She would do it for him; surely there was nothing more than loyalty and concern behind it all. Somehow deep down she knew that there was far more to it, but wasn't that simply a deep friendship, or was it truly on the cusp of becoming something more, or had it been something more for a while and it was just that neither one of them wanted to acknowledge whatever it was?

And why did everyone seem to think that she and Booth were together, or at the very least, why did they all seem to think that they _should_ be together? She knew that Angela's motivation came out of a desire to see her happy and somehow she refused to let go of her misguided notion that she and Booth were destined to be together. But at the same time, she had to admit to herself that she _had_ considered what it might be like to be with Booth, but she'd always immediately pushed those thoughts away; they were partners and their lives depended on being able to trust each other. What would happen to that trust if they took things beyond the professional confines of their partnership?

The voice of rationality interrupted her rambling thoughts to very logically point out to her that the evidence pointed to the fact that she and Booth were already much more than just partners. Partners talked about sports and what their kids were doing; maybe even about what they were going to do over the weekend; they didn't generally spend the majority of their time with each other both in and out of work; partners did not generally bend the rules for the other. She knew that he'd done that more than once; he didn't think she knew and he would most likely deny it, but she knew that he had.

That little revelation caused her to suck in a breath at the thought that she and Booth were drifting into uncharted territory and she didn't really know what she wanted to do about it. Logically, it made sense to keep things as they were, let it be. But logic also dictated that they were more compatible than most; Sweets had even said that in their partnership that they complemented one another. She knew that the term didn't apply only to their partnership; it applied to their friendship as well and as a logical extension of that thought, perhaps it would apply to a romantic relationship as well.

Being an empirical scientist she couldn't ignore a few key facts though. She was not good at relationships. She was a brain person. Booth was a heart person. She was not good with people. But she did have a successful partnership with Booth. She was still a brain person, but somehow she'd gained the ability to use her heart and while she still didn't consider herself good with people, she had gotten better. The only logical conclusion that she could come to was that she had changed; expanded as a person really because of Booth.

She let out a sigh as she realized that the water was getting lukewarm and the Beatles were now singing about _Yesterday_ and she needed to start thinking about tomorrow. If the weather forecast proved to be correct the snow would be gone by morning and the book tour would resume full force. At least there were no more television appearances scheduled and if Natalie attempted to add any, she was going to make it perfectly clear that she would do no more than what she'd originally agreed to.

She cringed as she remembered that somewhere in this chaotic schedule was supposed to be a radio interview; on the heels of her television interview she only hoped that the radio station had a different audience because she did not want to endure another round of questions the way she had today. This was supposed to be about her book and her work as a forensic anthropologist, but somehow it had been turned into so much more, and it was that so much more that she wasn't quite prepared to deal with, at least publicly.

Brennan couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting back to Booth as she drained the tub and got ready for bed. She turned the stereo off and padded to the bed in her far too large suite and as she slipped under the covers and turned off the light. The snow was still falling outside and she smiled as she recalled the walk to Pike Place Market earlier and the stop for coffee. She really was glad that Booth was here; in spite of the way he'd ended up in Seattle, she didn't think she would change a thing, of course if she admitted that to anyone, Angela would never let her hear the end of it. She let out a yawn and snuggled deeper under the blankets; before long, the falling snow outside her window seemed lulled her eyes closed until she had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Apparently the snowfall the day before had been the lull before the real storm. It was well after lunch by the time Brennan, Booth and Natalie left for the first book signing of the day over in Bellevue on the eastside of Lake Washington. All of the snow that had fallen the previous day had been washed away and a steady torrential downpour along with gusty winds had taken up residence in its place. The weather forecasters were warning about the possibility of urban flooding in addition to several rivers being on flood watch.

For someone who had shown no fear the previous day, Natalie became visibly agitated as they drove onto one of the two floating bridges that connected Seattle and Bellevue, a fast growing city of its own right with cranes atop rising buildings seemingly dominating the skyline. "What is holding up this bridge?" Natalie didn't see how all of these other drivers could be so calm; the damn bridge was sitting on top of the water.

"It's a floating bridge," Brennan immediately interjected, "The support comes from pontoons." She hoped that the simple explanation of how she understood the engineering of the bridge would allow Natalie to relax and enjoy the ride; fear was completely irrational because bridges like this were used all over the world.

Booth considered something he recalled seeing on the news some years back and decided that now was a very good time to exact a little revenge on their matchmaker from hell, "I think one of these sank a couple of years back; one of the pontoons filled with water and the whole thing went down in a matter of minutes."

"Sank?" Natalie seemed to pail at that comment.

Rob the driver interjected, "Yeah, back in 1990 one of the spans of the I-90 floating bridge sank, we're not on that one though, this is the 520 bridge." He could tell that this spitfire of a woman had given this poor non-couple a little bit of hell the previous day and he didn't blame Agent Booth one bit for offering up a little payback. "And then there was the Hood Canal Floating Bridge that sank in 1979 in a wind storm, that's in another part of the state though and of course both of those have been rebuilt. The one we're on now is the longest floating bridge in the world, and if this wind doesn't die down a little bit, we may have to take the long way back."

"Why?" Natalie's voice pitched up just a bit as she seemed to try and tighten her seatbelt just a little bit more. Why she had this irrational fear of things that floated was beyond her, but apparently her therapy wasn't working quite as well as she'd hoped.

"Well, if there are sustained gusts over 50 miles per hour for 15 minutes they'll close the bridge." As if he needed any emphasis at all, water sprayed across the bridge deck from where the windswept waves were crashing against the side of it.

Natalie mumbled some sort of allegiance to a deity as she let out a groan, "This is going to be a very long day." As if the previous day hadn't been long enough.

"Today won't be any longer than yesterday," It wasn't logical to Brennan that a person's perception of time caused them to believe that any 24-hour period could actually be any longer than any other 24-hour period. Maybe that was why she found the Beatles singing Eight Days a Week annoying.

"Let's hope not," Booth muttered under his breath. Clearly the weather was the reason this city had garnered its reputation for rain and he was glad that he wasn't here to work because to work outside in this would be his own personal hell, especially if he was wearing a $1,200 suit.

As the limousine made its way onto roadway supported by actual earth, Natalie seemed much calmer and her demeanor shifted into business mode, "Ok, so I've added a couple of things," She looked at Brennan who didn't seem to be at all thrilled with the news, "Don't worry, there aren't any more television interviews." At least on this trip; if she could arrange for Agent Booth to come on every book tour well, she was sure that the sales would go through the roof.

"I'm holding you to that," Booth retorted; there was no way he would ever agree to another interview like that.

Natalie simply chose to ignore him, "We're going to start off at the Bellevue branch of the University Book Store and then after that I thought we could go over the evening schedule." She had several things tentatively planned and she was hoping that she'd get confirmation soon as to whether they were going to become a reality. She was sure that Dr. Brennan really had no idea how hard it was getting these appearances set up.

"I thought you said there were a couple of things; that would imply at least two things," Brennan hadn't gotten quite as much sleep as she would have liked. Though the snow had lulled her to sleep, the wind had woken her with a start very early in the morning as gust after gust hit the glass causing it to rattle.

Booth let out a soft chuckle; he could recognize all the signs of Bones starting to get really irritated and if Natalie had never seen Hurricane Bones she was about to meet her match.

"Tempe dear, I'm just waiting to finalize a few things; I don't want to tell you we're going to do something if it's not finalized, but if you must know, there is a local software mogul and his wife that are big fans of yours and I've been trying to arrange for a private reception. They are very interested in having you sign a number of books to auction off for the charity they run." Natalie forced a smile.

Somehow the patronizing tone hit dead center and Brennan narrowed her eyes at the other woman, "We agreed that you were going to give me the itinerary _before_ I left DC; taking liberties to put my partner and myself on the dot on live television and have the host ask personal questions about whether or not we are romantically involved is inappropriate."

"It's on the spot, Bones," Booth chimed in, pleased that Natalie was finally going to get an earful.

"What's the difference?" Brennan glanced over at Booth momentarily.

"It's just an expression," Booth really didn't want to detract her from what she was trying to do and so he gestured with his eyes for her to keep reaming Natalie.

She looked over at Natalie, "Putting Booth and I in that situation may have created a potentially dangerous situation by drawing lines between spots that don't exist."

"Dots. This time it's dots," Booth was amused but he was doing his best to not show it; not now when his Bones was doing her version of getting in someone's face.

"I still don't understand what the difference is in a figure of speech," In the back of Brennan's mind she had already drawn those lines she'd referred to, but she was never going to tell Natalie that; she wasn't even sure if she could tell Booth.

"We're here," Rob announced from behind the wheel as he drove down into the parking garage below the bookstore; he didn't even bother to hide the smirk on his face at what had been transpiring in the backseat.

Natalie tried to gather some semblance of being in charge back into her corner, "Tempe dear, we can talk about all of those things after the book signing; I'm sure by now there's a significant line of your fans just waiting to have a personalized copy of '_Bone Blindness_'."

Booth couldn't help but interject, "Don't forget that you work _for_ Bones, not the other way around." He didn't like the fact that this woman hadn't thought twice about doing something that she thought would further her own career without considering how it might affect her client's life.

Normally, Brennan might have said something to Booth about his alpha male tendencies needing to be reigned in; that she was very capable of taking care of herself, but as they exited the vehicle and Natalie very purposefully rushed ahead, she smiled at him instead, "Thank you."

Booth let out a chuckle as a cocky grin took up residence on his face and he slung an arm over her shoulder as they walked towards the entrance to the bookstore, "Admit it Bones, you're glad I'm here." He hoped that it was true because he sure as hell was glad that he had come.

Brennan let out a soft laugh herself and elbowed him, "I _am_ glad."


	16. Chapter 16

By the time the book signing was wrapping up the rain had gotten so bad that the other potential appearances had been cancelled before they'd even been confirmed. There were reports coming in from all over the region of urban flooding and rivers spilling over their banks causing a logistical nightmare for evening commuters who soon found that several main highways had enough standing water on them to close them down. Thankfully, the wind had abated quite a bit and although traffic was heavy, Brennan, Booth and Natalie managed to get back across Lake Washington without too much incident; other than Natalie having another near panic attack in the middle of the floating bridge. All of them were glad to arrive back at the Edgewater, and with nothing else on the schedule, Booth was trying to think about how he could convince Bones to take in a movie on the big screen television in her suite without Natalie catching wind of it, because if she did, he was certain that she would make the rest of their stay in Seattle a living matchmaking nightmare.

Of course he hadn't counted on them being greeted in the lobby of the Edgewater by a pair of FBI agents that looked so federal that a blind man could spot them a mile away; he only hoped these two didn't make a practice of working undercover.

"Dr. Brennan, I'm Special Agent Daniel Coleman and this is my colleague Agent Jim Black," The man was tall and looked from the lines around his eyes as if he'd seen quite a bit of life; he was clearly older than Booth, and definitely not as good looking. The other agent was African American and had all the earmarks of having graduated from the Academy at Quantico not that long ago.

Brennan narrowed her gaze at the pair, unsure why two FBI agents had approached her in the lobby of her hotel when her partner was an FBI agent and he looked as if he had no idea why they were there, "Can I help you with something?" She glanced at Booth and raised an eyebrow as if asking if he knew what in the world was going on.

"Dr. Brennan, we understand that you're on a tour to promote your book, however, we have a case that we were hoping to get your expertise on," Special Agent Coleman did not look as if he wanted to go into any further detail in the lobby of the hotel, "Is there somewhere we could talk to you a bit further in private?"

Brennan was immediately defensive, "I work with Agent Booth." She didn't know either of these men and even though they'd shown their FBI identification when they'd introduced themselves; she wasn't born yesterday. She needed a little more information before she was going agree to go somewhere private.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth, I'm Bones' partner," Booth had his ID out and his sternest interrogation face on to challenge what in the hell these guys were doing and why they hadn't gone through proper channels to request the assistance of the Jeffersonian. He was after all the official liaison for the Jeffersonian and any request that the FBI had to utilize the forensic anthropology skills of one Dr. Temperance Brennan should have theoretically come through him.

"Agent Booth, nice to meet you; we have some remains that we would like Dr. Brennan to examine that have turned up in a rather unusual circumstance. We had heard that Dr. Brennan was here in Seattle, so we thought it was best to come see her directly," Coleman had been around long enough to know a territorial stance when he saw it and he wasn't about to argue about it now, clearly Dr. Brennan wanted to work with Agent Booth and he needed Dr. Brennan so he was going to do whatever that required to make sure he had some information when this whole mess hit the media.

"Hi, I'm Natalie Wilson, I'm Dr. Brennan's publicist," Natalie had a rather forced smile, "Is this going to interfere with our tour schedule?" As if this book tour hadn't already been fraught with schedule and personality conflicts, now it seemed that crime was going to interfere too.

Booth was ticked that she'd even asked and he stared her down, "When it comes down to choosing between a book tour or identifying a body, I'm pretty sure that I can speak for Bones when I say that _yes_, it probably will interfere with your precious little schedule."

"Booth is right; if the FBI needs me the tour is going to have to wait," Brennan looked at Natalie sure that she would work out whatever arrangements were necessary to rebook the tour at a later date, or simply postpone the appearances for a few days, but with the weather the way it was, it was probably a good idea to reschedule everything anyway.

"With all due respect Ms. Wilson, this is a matter between the FBI and Dr. Brennan," Agent Black interjected, "I'm sure that once we have the opportunity to discuss the case with Dr. Brennan and Special Agent Booth that they will inform you of the impact on your book tour schedule." He was clearly dismissing her, but with his engaging smile, she almost didn't seem to mind. Almost.

"We can talk in my suite," Brennan turned and headed toward her room with Booth and the other two agents in tow.

As soon as the door was closed, Booth turned to the other two. "Now what exactly is this about?" Booth reasoned that whatever they needed to say to Bones they could say to her through him.

"We received a call this afternoon from a representative of a local tribal agency; a 55-gallon barrel washed up in a bay about 35 miles north of here and there were two very decomposed bodies inside. With all of the extra snow and rain we've had, no one is exactly sure where the remains originated so the FBI has been given jurisdiction. We were hoping that Dr. Brennan could at least help to definitively narrow down the ethnic origin," Coleman gave a brief overview; all of them knew that this could represent a multi-jurisdictional nightmare.

"So I'm assuming that you're interested in whether the remains are Native American," Brennan knew that if the remains were any other ethnic group there would be even more questions as to how the barrel ended up in a tribal area.

"Yes, that is correct," Agent Coleman confirmed with a nod, "And since you regularly work with the FBI, it was natural that we contact you. The fact that you were already here in Seattle just made it easier to get in touch with you."

"I work with Booth," Brennan didn't know these other agents and while she was willing to help the FBI out, she didn't really want to do this without Booth. That way she could do her job the way she was accustomed to and he could deal with everything else.

Booth didn't say anything, he just stepped towards Bones a bit possessively; a move that he was sure that she would call him on if she'd noticed it, but the other two agents seemed to pick right up on it.

"Of course Agent Booth will be part of the investigation; I understand that your unconventional partnership has been very successful," Coleman actually wouldn't mind handing the entire investigation over to the pair if it meant that he wouldn't have to be the one to surf the political nightmare this was likely going to stir up.

"When can I see the remains?" Brennan was anxious to get started; this book tour had only underscored why science was her first love.

"There are too many impassible roads right now, so we'll go first thing in the morning. Agent Black and I will pick you and Agent Booth up around eight," Coleman was pleased that he hadn't had to have Dr. Brennan fly out from DC; thanks to his wife who had seen the interview on 'Good Afternoon Seattle' yesterday, he'd heard all about Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth; in fact he was tempted to bring the pair home for dinner if he wasn't sure that his wife would continue to compare him to Agent Booth.

Booth didn't look too thrilled about the idea that he wasn't getting his own rig to drive, but at least he was working with Bones, and Natalie wasn't going to be anywhere nearby to interfere, "Great, we'll see you then."

"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, see you in the morning." Special Agent Coleman and Agent Black excused themselves, leaving Booth and Brennan alone in her suite.

Even before the door closed behind them, Brennan was already thinking about work, "I certainly hope that the remains aren't compromised; we really should be going to see them tonight," She didn't have much faith in the FBI forensic teams to not do things that would destroy bone evidence.

"Bones, there isn't much we can do about that right now," Booth smirked at her, "What do you say we take advantage of that big screen TV and watch a movie." As his smirked turned into a smile his voice bore the same tone he used every time he showed up at her apartment at midnight bearing Wong Foo's, "We can get room service."

Even Brennan couldn't resist an offer like that and she found herself smiling right back at him, inwardly rolling her eyes at his boyish charm, "Ok, but I get to pick the movie."


	17. Chapter 17

"The evening news is not a movie," Booth seemed intent on grumbling from where he sat on the sofa. They'd ordered room service and had turned on the television to see if the hotel had any pay-per-view movie options other than the complete collection of Beatles movies that the suite came stocked with. However, as soon as it was clear that the evening news was on, Bones seemed to get distracted from the task at hand, at least in Booth's mind.

Brennan seemed to ignore the whine, "From the sounds of it, this is one of the wettest days Seattle's ever had on record. That would make sense as to why it's flooding so much, especially with all of the snow from yesterday melting too." The images of rivers spilling over their banks and houses stranded in the midst of it gave way to on the spot reporters showing urban flooding and why everyone should just stay home even though it was right in the middle of the evening commute, which for some had just gotten all that much more complicated.

"This weather is really going to complicate the investigation," Booth couldn't help but wonder exactly how the 55-gallon drum containing the bodies had ended up in the bay and he silently prayed that Bones would be able to identify the skeletal remains rather quickly so that it might give them a clue as to where it had originated. Clearly skeletal remains showing up mysteriously in the middle of a record rain storm was not going to please whoever had sealed them in the drum in the first place. Hopefully there wouldn't be any mention of that little discovery on the news tonight.

"I'm not sure why you say that; every investigation has challenges Booth, but we solve them, and that's what we're going to do here because that's what we do, Booth and Brennan," Brennan seemed so confident of it and really it was true; it _was_ what they did, but more than that, it was part of _who_ they were and maybe that's why she knew that they'd solve this one too.

Booth had a quirky smile on his face, "You're right, Bones, that's what we do, but since we can't do that thing we do until tomorrow, let's try and focus on finding a movie to watch." He admired her confidence; shared it to a certain extent, but he was also a realist and he knew that they had their work cut out for them; especially in an area where neither one of them had connections to the locals.

Brennan smirked in response to his comment and then looked at him thoughtfully as he grabbed the television remote and started to peruse their options.

As Booth glanced back at her, his eyebrows shot up at how she was looking at him, "What?" He had been ready to suggest one of the action films on the list, but the look on her face stopped him short.

Brennan didn't turn away she simply offered a warm smile as she regarded him, "I was just thinking that I'm glad that you're here, Booth." She was glad too; not just because they'd had a case sprung on them and he would have had to fly out from DC anyway, but because she was really enjoying his company.

Booth didn't know quite what to say about that, but he couldn't resist teasing her, "See, you should have just let me get on that plane with you in the first place." His smile was nearly at full wattage even as he enticed a small laugh out of her.

"You really _are_ full of yourself," Brennan knew that the word 'cocky' on his belt buckle was no exaggeration because Seeley Booth was one of the cockiest men she'd ever met, but anthropologically speaking she was sure that it was all part of his need to assert his alpha male dominance and she'd accepted that it was just part of who he was and she was coming to realize that she liked who he was a hell of a lot.

"Not full of myself, just sure of myself; there's a difference, Bones." He arched his brows as he let out a soft chuckle and casually slung his arm across the back of the couch in an effort to get comfortable and if he would admit it to himself, get a little closer to her too.

"What are you so sure of?" It occurred to Brennan that she really didn't know the true reason that Booth had flown all the way to Seattle just so he could provide security for her that she didn't need. Surely there had to be another logical and rational reason for why he had done it.

Booth was quick to retort, "I'm sure that you didn't have adequate security before I got here." While it _was_ true that he hadn't liked the security arrangements that Natalie had explained to him over the phone when he'd tracked her down, the arrangements probably _were_ adequate, but he didn't like anyone but himself making sure that Bones was safe unless he'd had the chance to check them out himself.

Brennan's expression challenged his premise, "We both know that's not true." She wasn't even sure she needed security at all; she was confident in her ability to utilize her defensive skills to take care of herself.

Booth let out a resigned sigh as he realized that this conversation was taking a turn he couldn't really avoid, "Bones, she'd only arranged for a rent-a-cop and I didn't want my partner entrusted to a rent-a-cop." Of course there was the fact that he knew that she was fully capable of taking care of herself; most of the time that is.

Brennan was surprisingly not defensive at his comment, "Booth, why did you really come? You and I both know that rent-a-cop or not that I don't really need anyone to take care of me." They'd had this discussion far more times than she cared to count; usually after some whacko had sent her something disturbing in the mail, or had made an attempt on her life, or simply whenever Booth perceived that their might be danger, and somehow he always seemed to win in the end.

"You _do_ need someone to take care of you, Bones. Whether or not you want to admit it, sometimes even you need someone to take care of you," And the fact that he seemed to want to be that someone came across rather clearly in his tone. Sometimes she could be so damn oblivious to what she really needed.

Angela's words about testing the waters seemed to echo in her mind as she considered that maybe the reason Booth had come had nothing to do with what she needed because she was convinced that she didn't need someone to take care of her; someone to care _about_ her maybe, but she could _take_ care of herself. She looked fully at Booth as she spoke, "This isn't about me is it?"

"Huh?" Booth looked genuinely confused; this was most definitely about Bones; he had flow all the way out to Seattle because she was there.

"You know that I can take care of myself, Booth," The very hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she leaned a little closer to him, "I think this is about you. Anthropologically speaking, your alpha male tendencies..."

Booth interrupted her before she could get any further, "This isn't about anthropology or alpha male tendencies; please don't reduce me to scientific mumbo jumbo."

She didn't look convinced that it didn't have anything to do with those things, because at its core, anthropology was a science of observation; she had merely observed dominant male behavior in Booth and assigned a label to it, "Fine." She smirked at him, "But I still think that the reason you came was out of some misguided, overdeveloped need to make yourself feel better." Of course, the fact that she felt better having him there was simply a side benefit that she was more than willing to take advantage of.

Booth let his arm drop from the couch to her shoulders, pulling her into a sort of half hug, "Temperance, it _does_ make me feel better knowing that you're ok." His brow was furrowed, "I worry about you because I know what people are capable of; and I'm not sure I'd forgive myself if something happened to you and I could have done something to prevent it by just being there."

"You can't be with me all the time, Booth; I know the risks that come with this job," She'd come to know them all too well and yet she wouldn't trade it for anything; she wouldn't trade her partner for anything. "Besides, just like I told you before I left DC, this is a book tour, not a murder investigation. Well at least it wasn't a murder investigation then like it probably is now."

"Ok, we'll get to that tomorrow, for now, what do you think James Bond or Jason Bourne?" Booth wanted to direct her attention back to the movie they were supposed to be picking out at least for the moment. And as for him not being able to be with her all the time; how could she not see that he already did a pretty fair job of having that covered as it was?

"Who?" Brennan looked at him a little oddly until she realized he was referring to the movie they were supposed to be picking out. She was a little disappointed that he seemed to want to change the subject.

"_Casino Royale_ or _The Bourne Supremacy_? Movies, Bones. James Bond and Jason Bourne are the main characters." He gestured towards the television to emphasize his point. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her the other reason that he'd followed her to Seattle; he wasn't sure she'd understand, in fact she'd probably tell him that it was completely irrational and he couldn't argue the point because he knew it was true.

"I knew that," A smile flickered across her face, "James Bond then." She'd never heard of Jason Bourne, but who hadn't heard of James Bond? In fact in some respects, Booth reminded her of James Bond in his brash desire to save the world.

"Ok, James Bond it is," Booth smiled and clicked the remote to order the movie before settling back to enjoy it and his proximity to Bones. He couldn't help but glance over her as he felt to confess something else as the movie started, "I also came because I missed you, Bones." Irrational or not, it needed to be said because it was the truth and he was surprised when instead of tensing up she seemed to move in closer to him.

Her voice was soft, but her smile was evident in it, "I missed you too, Booth."


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning Booth and Brennan were standing in front of the Edgewater waiting for Agents Coleman and Black to pick them up and they were still discussing the movie they'd watched together the night before. Despite the fact that _Casino Royale_ was clearly fiction, Brennan couldn't help but point out how unlikely it was that someone could jump from one crane to another like that without plummeting to their untimely death. A death that would most certainly result in the fracture of nearly every bone in the entire body outside of the small bones that made up the inside of the ear.

Booth let out a chuckle, "Bones, it's a movie; it isn't always supposed to be logical or even plausible." He was glad about that fact really, because any man would have a hard time living up to the legend that was James Bond.

"I know that it's fiction, Booth; I write fiction. I was just pointing out that the impact of that kind of fall would make identification of the body very difficult." Brennan was trying to remember just how many bodies she'd identified that had suffered that particular sort of injury and she realized that it had been far too many.

"Ok, so we've established that James Bond defies logic," Booth wasn't sure what he had enjoyed more; watching a great action flick with Bones, or listening to her dissect the movie the morning after. At one point in time all of this might have annoyed him, but all of her little quirks had become rather endearing to him and suddenly he couldn't help but think about how Angela had challenged what his real motive was for following Bones out to Seattle; especially when she'd specifically told him not to come. He was beginning to question that himself and wondering if he'd ever be able to vocalize it to Bones; it was true that he'd missed her, but the question that he hadn't really answered was why did he miss her so much even before she'd left DC?

"It's not just that he defies logic, Booth, he obviously has authority issues. Why else would he break into his superior's residence? I'm fairly certain that if you did something like that to Cullen that you could hug your FBI career goodbye," Brennan smirked at him; she knew that he didn't always play by the rules, sometimes he bent them; she certainly noticed that when they were bent in her favor, but at his core he was an honorable man and she respected that about him.

"It's kiss my FBI career goodbye, Bones, not hug; and I'd never do that to Cullen; at least not without probable cause and a warrant," He smirked back at her. "Besides, I seem to recall a deputy director that _did_ try and kill my FBI career." Of course he realized that as soon as the words were out of his mouth that he'd inadvertently brought up Max Keenan, who not only had truly saved his career in the long run; he'd saved Bones too. Although committing murder to do so wasn't exactly the proper way to go about it, on some level he respected the man for looking out for his family. Among criminals, Max Keenan had a sense of honor.

"But you got your job back," She smiled at him; she remembered the day he'd given her the news; she'd been willing to risk her career and in the end, in spite of her father's choice to murder the deputy director of the FBI, things had gotten back to some sense of normalcy.

"Yeah, I did," He also remembered just how hard it had been on her to see her father and Russ disappear again; especially after Max had handcuffed her to a park bench. She didn't deserve that even if in her father's mind he was trying to protect her. He was starting to feel a little sentimental about it all when he noticed an obviously FBI-issued SUV pulling up in front of the hotel. "Looks like our ride's here; you ready to help put some bad guys away, Bones?"

Brennan couldn't help but smile in return, "Always."

They slid into the backseat without any fanfare and Agent Coleman pulled away from the curb and immediately launched into an explanation of what they would expect the day to hold, "Dr. Brennan, I'm sorry we're interrupting your book tour; we can certainly ship the remains back to the Jeffersonian once you've done your initial investigation."

"I've cancelled the rest of the tour; Natalie will just have to rebook the dates," Truthfully Brennan was glad; she wasn't sure how much more of this particular tour she could handle.

"Ok, then, we have about an hour drive up north ahead of us depending on the traffic situation this morning. The barrel washed up in a bay north of Everett on tribal land; a local tried to haul it further up the beach to get it out of the water, but when it became obvious that it was full of something, he called tribal police who in turn called us when they opened it and found human remains." Coleman wanted to fill Booth and Brennan in as much as possible before they got to their destination so that they could just hit the ground running so to speak.

"Are the remains still with the tribal police?" Booth wanted to know exactly who they were going to be dealing with.

"No, we've taken possession of them; we would have brought them down to Seattle except that the weather yesterday made that impossible. We've got them secured at a branch of the state crime lab up in Marysville, not ideal, but it should have the basics for your preliminary investigation." Agent Black interjected; no matter how they looked at things; the investigation was bound to get complicated just by the fact that the State Patrol operated the state crime lab, the tribal police had found the remains and the FBI was calling the shots in the investigation; he for one was glad to have the big guns from DC in on this one.

"I've certainly gotten along with less than basic," Brennan chimed in; she certainly hadn't had a state of the art lab in Rwanda or Guatemala, so whatever this satellite branch of the state crime lab had to offer would be more than adequate. For anything else she'd simply send things to the Jeffersonian until it made more sense to head back there herself.

"And you might want to consider getting a hotel up here once you estimate how long things are going to take; the traffic here can be pretty crappy, we get a government rate at the Inn at Port Gardner which is a lot nicer than the Holiday Inn. Agent Booth, we can get you set up with a pool vehicle from our Everett office; it's not that far from Marysville and it'll be a lot easier than driving all the way back into Seattle until this thing is wrapped up." Agent Coleman wondered if the hotels that a much smaller city like Everett had to offer would be met with disdain by these two after their stay at the Edgewater; they were after all from the east coast.

"That sounds more than adequate, Agent Coleman," Brennan was anxious to see the remains with her own eyes; she really didn't care what hotel she stayed in. Booth seemed to always be the one to complain that she always seemed to have much nicer accommodations than she did; could she help it if she didn't have a lousy per diem to deal with like he did?

Booth liked the idea of being the one behind the wheel; besides it made far more sense for him to be the one driving him and Bones around and not depending on these two, "By pool vehicle..." He'd seen what cast off pool vehicles looked like and he sure as hell hoped they lined up something a bit more fitting for a Special Agent and a world renowned forensic anthropologist.

"The field rigs are all SUVs; you never know where you're going to end up out here," Agent Coleman could sense the apprehension of Booth and while he could appreciate it, he was glad he didn't work with the man in DC; somehow he was sure they'd probably clash on a regular basis once the pleasantries were done.

"Right," Booth checked that off of his mental list and he was going to make it a point to get him and Bones rooms at this hotel that Coleman mentioned; although it was going to be tough to give up the Edgewater; something he was sure he wasn't going to be seeing on his FBI per diem anytime soon; the only reason that he'd gotten to stay there in the first place was because the book tour was picking up the cost. He glanced over at Bones who was watching the rain swept scenery go by; if this had been any other case, he was sure that they'd be bickering away about something. As he kept stealing glances at her, he wondered to himself about her confession the previous night that she'd missed him too and somehow he wanted to find out exactly when she'd come to that conclusion; was it before she'd left DC or after she'd arrived in Seattle and exactly how much had she missed him?


	19. Chapter 19

Brennan was anxious to see the remains. Fortunately, it seemed that the people who worked at this small branch of Washington State's crime lab were competent enough to have preserved the entire contents of the barrel without disturbing any potential evidence. Previous encounters she'd had with FBI forensic personnel had been less than she'd hoped and so finding that the barrel had been minimally processed until she'd arrived was refreshing. Of course the human soup inside had been drained, but it had been placed in plastic storage containers so that any trace evidence could be extracted, and even that had been set aside until she had arrived. Her main concern, however, were the skeletal remains. Special Agent Coleman had indicated that more than one body was in the barrel, but as she began to lay out the individual bones one by one, it quickly became apparent that there were in fact three bodies; one young male, one female, along with a set of very small fetal bones.

"I want these sent to the Jeffersonian," Brennan glanced up at Booth who was standing there almost impatiently until he could do something. If she hadn't been in the middle of an examination she might have made some sort of quip at him, but instead she tucked his helpless look into the back of her mind and tried to stifle a smile at how uncomfortable he looked.

"I thought you might say that; the forensic team here is preparing samples from the goo from the barrel to send back to Hodgins too." Booth almost winced as he imagined the goo he'd seen being poured into airtight containers; the smell of it was enough to knock you into next Tuesday and so he'd opted to camp out with Bones as she inspected the bones. Of course the fact that he was finding that spending time with his partner in general was something that he was enjoying far too much even in the midst of goo made him question his sanity; surely he could find something other than staring at Bones to do, but he really couldn't think of anything he hadn't already taken care of.

"Just because the consistency is gooey, does not make it goo, Booth; it's part of who these people used to be," She knew it was a technique he was using to distance himself from the death that surrounded their jobs, but she wanted the dead to retain some of their dignity for the dead in the midst of it all. She found it mildly amusing that after all this time that he hadn't found some sort of immunity to the smell; it was definitely unpleasant, but in their line of work it was completely expected.

"Have you let the squints know you're sending stuff to them?" It occurred to Booth that as far as he knew the last Bones had talked to Angela was the other night when they were eating dinner. And he was certain that in the mind of Angela Montenegro the fact that she hadn't heard from Bones was probably cause to assume that he and Bones were taking her advice. He let out a soft chuckle as he considered just how disappointed Angela was going to be to find that they had been called upon to work an actual case and hadn't kindled a romance.

"No, I thought I'd call Zach and tell him to expect the remains once they'd been shipped," Brennan leaned in closer to the femur of the male victim, "There are some scoring marks here." Of course it would be much easier to determine the source of them if she had all of the tools available that the Jeffersonian had to offer, but she was just going to have to trust Zach to do a closer examination until she could get back to DC.

"What does that mean?" Booth was anxious for answers and just standing there watching Bones made him feel like he wasn't very useful. Of course it had afforded him the opportunity to notice just how curvy Bones was; something that he was sure would earn him a glare, especially if she knew he was currently cataloging the way her jeans hugged her in a way that made him jealous. He gave himself a mental slap to the back of the head; they were working, he didn't have the luxury of checking out Bones' ass, no matter how appealing it was.

"It means that there are scoring marks," Brennan didn't even bother to look up, "I won't know anything about them until I can have Zach take a closer look." There were times that she wondered if Booth was even listening to her; this was one of those times. He was clearly in the room, but he seemed a bit preoccupied.

"So no obvious cause of death?" Booth wasn't sure why he was so anxious to figure it all out so soon; but if he was honest it was because he was genuinely disappointed that they'd been called on to work a case in the middle of her book tour. It wasn't the book tour being cancelled that he was disappointed about, for some reason he was disappointed that the opportunity to spend time with her that had absolutely nothing to do with a case had been taken away without any sort of advanced notice.

Brennan glanced over at him and raised a single eyebrow, "Is this your first day on the job, Booth?" It was a sarcastic yet rhetorical question; he should know by now that when she learned something as important as the cause of death, he would be the first one that she was going to tell. Clearly he was having difficultly focusing, but then again, it seemed that she was the only one doing any actual work at the moment.

"Funny, Bones," He could be sarcastic too; although apparently what he really needed to do was find a way to be useful. That was pretty damn hard to do though since the other two agents had dropped them off with a promise to return in a little while, hopefully with that department issued SUV so that he and Bones wouldn't be at the mercy of someone else.

"You should know by now how long it takes to do a preliminary examination; and there are three sets of remains," She gestured towards the door, "If you're bored you can go find something else to do." Not that she minded having him there; however, if he was going to continually interrupt her train of thought it would be better if he was getting in someone else's way. Besides, he was distracting enough by just being there. After watching the movie together in her suite she'd had a hard time pushing down the rising feelings she was experiencing around him; something that had been going on for a while, but with a greater frequency since they'd been in Seattle and she wasn't sure what if anything she wanted to do about it.

Booth puffed his chest out defensively, "I'm not bored; I'm trying to understand what we're dealing with here. So far all I know is that you found a mark on a leg bone." He wasn't even sure which victim she was examining. Bones were bones to him, which was why he needed his Bones. He snickered a little inside his mind as he repeated that a few times really fast silently to himself.

"It's a femur," Brennan informed him as she looked up and caught him eyeing something in the region of her butt. A smirk flitted across her face at the realization that he obviously appreciated how she looked or at the very least was a typical male with far too much time on his hands. Either way the look on his face was a guilty as a Catholic heading to confession.

Booth cleared his throat, "Right." He didn't know a femur from a tibia, but then again, that wasn't really what his expertise was. Although, maybe it would be a good idea if he picked up a copy of Grey's Anatomy and familiarized himself with the skeletal system. Of course if he did that and he actually understood what was coming out of Bones' mouth he might actually find her even sexier than she already seemed to him. Another mental smack to the back of the head and he cleared his throat again, "I should probably check to see if Coleman is back with that SUV yet." Not that he had anywhere to go, but at least he wouldn't be standing there feeling like he was making a fool out of himself in front of Bones.

"You should check on the hotel too," Brennan felt very empowered at how affected Booth seemed and inwardly smiled to herself, "We're already too late for checkout at the Edgewater for tonight, but we should get rooms for tomorrow." Of course the publisher had paid for the rooms through what was supposed to be the end of the book tour, but there was no reason why they should keep them if they were going to be spending the majority of the investigation well north of Seattle.

"Right. I'll check on the hotel room..._rooms_, hotel _rooms_." Booth wasn't sure why he was suddenly so flustered, but he was going to go outside now and get some air and regain his FBI Special Agent, former Army Ranger sniper composure.

As Booth disappeared through the door, Brennan felt a smile spread across her face; yes, maybe _she_ wouldn't have to be the one to decide what to do about whatever it was that was happening between them.


	20. Chapter 20

Somehow by the time Booth had the keys to that FBI-issued SUV in his hands, he'd regained some of his composure, and not that he would admit it, but he also felt like he'd regained some semblance of control over his destiny too. He was after all Special Agent Seeley Booth, the _official_ FBI liaison for the Jeffersonian and it was _he_ that had the great pleasure of working with _his_ Bones. No more shuttling around by some other agent, he was back in the driver's seat right where he belonged. His ego was sailing rather high when he sauntered back into the crime lab exam room where he'd left Bones a few hours earlier. However, his ego was quickly deflated when he noticed her laughing at something that someone who looked a little too squinty for his taste had just said and his eyes narrowed as if he were looking down a scope at a target. "Hey, Bones."

Brennan glanced over as soon as she heard someone walk in and she felt a smile stealing across her face when she noticed that it was Booth; she knew that Dr. Collins had been flirting with her, but she had been pleased to realize that although he was intelligent and somewhat attractive she wasn't the least bit interested in him. Seeing Booth though made her aware that she was feeling something for her partner that definitely couldn't be filed under the category of either 'partner' or 'professional'.

Booth felt the smile she offered him all the way down to the soles of his shoes, "You finish up your preliminary examination of the bones?" He really didn't care if she had several more hours to go, he just wanted the squinty interloper to get away from his Bones and just in case the over educated egghead hadn't quite caught on, he shot him a look that was universal among men for 'hands off'.

"Not yet, I've found several anomalies that I need Zach to take a closer look at. Dr. Collins was going to assist me in packing the remains up to ship out in some sort of container that he's pioneered," Brennan could sense Booth going alpha male and yet at that moment she found it more endearing than irritating.

If Dr. Collins thought he'd had a chance at getting a date with Dr. Brennan a few moments ago it became very clear to him rather quickly that he needn't even ask. So he simply quirked a smile and greeted Booth with an extended hand, "I assume that you're Agent Booth."

"_Special_ Agent Seeley Booth," He was probably being far more serious than necessary, but he didn't want the west coast granola-eating squint hitting on his Bones and he made his handshake a little extra firm for emphasis, "Bones and I are partners." Of course whatever conclusion he wanted to draw from that word was up to him, but all of his FBI-spidey-sense was telling him that he was coming across loud and clear.

Dr. Collins turned towards Dr. Brennan, "I'll get the containers I spoke of and bring them in; perhaps you might be able to utilize them at the Jeffersonian." Who was he to turn down an opportunity to get a very industry relevant invention into the hands of one of the world's most prominent forensic scientists? He offered another smile and then turned to leave these _partners_ alone.

"Thank you, Dr. Collins," Brennan turned her attention to Booth who anthropologically speaking was looking every bit the part of the alpha male not only in his demeanor, but in the way his snug fitting tee hugged his well structured form underneath that jacket of his; the jeans were just icing on the proverbial muffin. "I called Angela and let her know that we're going to need some help." Of course she left out the part of what Angela had first suggested that they needed help with.

Booth smirked, "I'm sure that the squints were excited to have something to do besides race beetles." He knew that the things Hodgins and Zach in particular found to amuse themselves when there was no actual case work to do could only be categorized as weird.

"They've been working on cases from Limbo, Booth; just because I'm not there doesn't mean that they're goofing off," Brennan rolled her eyes at him; the people she worked with were professionals and some of the best and brightest people she'd ever know. She knew that _he_ knew that and maybe in some respects it intimidated him, but he fit in with them whether he wanted to admit it because he was one of the best and brightest at what he did and together they made a formidable team. Maybe that was why she was finding him so distracting.

"Yeah, but when we're not there, it's not the same for them," They'd had this conversation before after Zach had come back from Iraq and it was true; the two of them were the center of this little conglomeration of squints. Truly, she was more the center than he was; without her all of them would be somewhere else and he was sure that he'd be less of a man somehow. The odd thing was though that she didn't seem to realize the impact she had on others; the impact that she had on him really.

"They're perfectly capable of getting along without us, Booth," Brennan was sure that was true; every time she'd returned from some sort of field assignment with Booth the others had obviously more than managed to get by. It would be impossible to observe any sort of difference because if she was there to observe it, she wouldn't really be observing what she was supposed to be observing anyway.

"You determine COD yet?" Booth stepped over to where the bones were laid out on the exam table and leaned down to get a closer look as if he might actually recognize something. They all just looked like bones to him.

"Most likely stabbing in the case of both adults, the fetal bones don't show any signs of trauma." Brennan wondered to herself if the female victim had been obviously pregnant given the stage of development that the fetal bones would indicate and then she wondered if that would have made any difference at all to whoever the killer was.

"Coleman and Black have been looking through missing persons reports," Booth knew that without a positive ID even a missing persons report wasn't going to be much help. Hopefully, once the bones were sent to the Jeffersonian and the squints could perform their squinty magic they would come up with the faces of their victims. And then he and Bones could wrap the case up over pie and coffee. And maybe somewhere in the midst of it all he could gather up the courage to make a move on his partner that would only be considered a move if she in fact was feeling the way that he was fairly certain that he was feeling. Otherwise he'd have to find a way to brush it off as a guy hug, although if his lips were involved, he was fairly certain that she would know that he was lying; even Bones wasn't that oblivious.

"So where does that leave us?" Brennan didn't have much else she could do until Zach had examined the bones and that would be tomorrow. It was already late afternoon and although she was used to pulling much longer hours, she was looking forward to the possibility of spending some more time alone with Booth that had nothing to do with a case. She wondered to herself if Booth might be interested in spending the evening in much the same fashion as they'd spent the previous evening. The idea of room service and a movie suddenly sounded very appealing.

"Huh?" Booth was momentarily thrown off by her question as he pulled himself out of Bones-la-la-land. "Oh, well I guess that means we head back down to Seattle." All of their things were still at the Edgewater; they would spend the night there and then check into the other hotel in the morning in the two separate rooms that he'd reserved. Hopefully he could communicate that to her without sounding like a complete idiot this time.

Brennan smiled warmly, "Alright, as soon as we get the remains and the other samples ready to ship out I suppose we can punch the road."

"It's _hit_ the road, Bones, and yes, I suppose we can," Booth threw an arm around her shoulder for a quick side _guy_ hug and let out a laugh. Yes, he was definitely going to have to entertain the idea of making a move on her very soon.


	21. Chapter 21

Booth and Brennan were well on their way back down to Seattle in the SUV when Brennan's phone rang and in her distracted state of mind she answered the phone with the speaker on, "Brennan."

"Sweetie, please tell me that you took my advice and you've shipped everything here so you and Agent Hot Stuff can spend some time getting down and dirty before you fly back and solve the case," Clearly Angela had some specific goals she'd like to see her friends achieve while they were in Seattle and she had no shame in being completely blunt about it. The fact that she was on the other side of the country probably had something to do with it, but she had to be blunt with Bren because otherwise she was going to stay in denial forever rather than living happily ever after with her very own FBI Agent in standard issue body armor.

Booth's eyes widened and he gripped the wheel of the SUV and tried to concentrate on driving instead of the mental image that had just flashed through his head thanks to one Miss Angela Montenegro. He'd been having a hard enough time not thinking about Bones in inappropriate ways without Angela bringing them right out therein the open.

"The remains and the other evidence should be there in the morning," Brennan wasn't sure what to say about the second part of Angela's comment and so she momentarily chose to ignore it and wished in vain that time travel was actually possible so that she might go back a few seconds and just answer the damn phone _without_ the speaker on. However, ignoring Angela rarely worked; especially when it came to being nosey about her love life; or lack thereof.

"O-k-a-y," Angela drew out the word, "that would be part one of my advice taken, which I pretty much expected that you would do anyway. What I'm really wondering about is when you plan on jumping Booth." Clearly she was unaware that each of her words rang out loud and very clearly in the interior of the SUV right in perfect earshot of the man in question because if she had, she might have been a little _more_ blunt.

"Angela," Brennan had a slightly panicked timbre to her voice. This was not a conversation that she wanted to have with Booth present. In reality, it wasn't a conversation she wanted to have at all. She did not need Angela pushing her at Booth when she was distracted enough by him these past few days anyway; a little factoid that she was not about to share with her best friend any time in the foreseeable future.

The wonderful thing about Angela was that she immediately picked up on the not so subtle change in Bren's voice, "Oh, I get it, he's there isn't he?" Delight was evident in her voice. Clearly this was turning out far better than she could have hoped.

"Hello, Angela," Booth hoped that his voice sounded perfectly unaffected and in control even though he wasn't feeling either at the moment. Maybe when she realized that he had heard what she said, she'd politely excuse herself and have the good sense to be embarrassed. He should have known better.

"Booth," Angela's voice sounded like honey trying to smooth things over or entice him into carrying out the second part of her plan. It all made sense now; the road noise being a bit more pronounced; she'd been put on speaker enough times to know that Agent Hot Stuff had heard every little thing she'd said.

"Angela, we're on the way back to our hotel in Seattle," Brennan had filled her in earlier about the cancellation of the book tour and the need to change hotels in the morning so that they'd be closer to the crime lab and the crime scene. She had mostly ignored Angela's encouragement to downsize to one hotel room, of course now she realized that her best friend wasn't so easily dissuaded.

Seeing this as the perfect moment to be blunt with _both_ of them, Angela plunged ahead, "Just consider this my public service announcement to both of you. It's time to stop doing the Tango of Denial and get familiar with the Horizontal Mambo." She was sure that any moment one of them was going to hang up on her and she just wanted to make sure she got her point across before the line went dead.

"Goodbye, Angela," Brennan ended the call and dropped the phone on the seat next to her as if it had just burned her hand. She couldn't bring herself to look at Booth, "I didn't know she was going to say that."

Booth let out a soft chuckle, "It's Angela, it's not that surprising." The artist had been doing her best to try and push the two of them together probably since they day they started working together but he couldn't recall her ever being this blunt when she'd addressed both of them at the same time. And truthfully, it wasn't as if he hadn't considered _exactly_ what she'd been suggesting for most of the last several days. Something that he had finally admitted to himself.

"That was her idea, not mine," Brennan was immediately on the defensive, afraid that Booth would think that she and Angela had talked at length about this subject and had come to some sort of agreement that she was actually supposed to launch herself at Booth. She had no intention of doing such a thing; he was her partner, her friend and although she was definitely attracted to him in a very un-partner-like fashion and had developed some feelings that were clearly not simple friendly feelings, she was not going to be the one that crossed that proverbial line he'd drawn between them.

"Oh," Booth's voice held a hint of disappointment; somehow he hoped as ridiculous as it might seem that he could use Angela's call as a catalyst for courage and make a move on Bones, but if she wasn't even thinking that something like that was even a vague possibility, then should he even try? Had he been misreading her? He didn't think he was; he was good with people, but when it came to Bones, sometimes he had no idea what was going on inside that head of hers. Well maybe that wasn't exactly the truth, sometimes he thought he knew her better than she knew herself, but that was because she was so damn stubborn and had to approach everything anthropologically. Who in the hell else ever did that? Only Bones would. _His_ Bones.

Brennan wasn't usually good with people, but she was good with Booth and she immediately determined that his voice sounded deflated; identified as probably disappointment and suddenly she seemed to lose rational control over her ability to think before she spoke, "It's not that you're not attractive, Booth, you are; very attractive really. There's just that line and you said we can't cross it." If she had hoped for some sort of words that would land between an outright denial of any feelings and a confession of undying love, she felt like she'd completely missed the mark.

As her words registered in Booth's mind, a smile stole over his face as he realized that more than likely she was feeling exactly the way he was. Maybe it was time to get rid of that line. Get a whole fleet of bulldozers or maybe an entire Panzer division to just run it right over and obliterate it forever.


	22. Chapter 22

Somehow Brennan was having difficulty convincing herself that she and Booth could remain just partners; there was definitely something that had been happening between them for quite a while and him following her to Seattle seemed to be the catalyst which had brought whatever it was to a place where they were either going to have to take a step over that line or firmly agree to stay behind it. However, it was one thing to have the occasional fantasy about her partner; it was completely another to do something about it. The idea of it all made her nervous.

Booth kept stealing glances at Bones as they exited the freeway and threaded through surface streets of downtown Seattle back towards the Edgewater. She had that look on her face that meant she was thinking about something; at the moment he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, especially after Angela's phone call. He knew what he wanted, he just wasn't one hundred percent sure of what she wanted. Ok, so maybe he had a fairly good idea, but the timing of it all was really the core issue. If he made a move too soon he would scare her, and if he waited too long, he'd run the risk that she'd be irritated with him for not figuring it out faster. And then there was always the possibility that he was completely wrong.

Brennan knew that Angela had a point, albeit a crudely put one, but still her friend had been able to see something that she had firmly denied for a very long time and she considered that at least part of that reason was because the close friendship she'd forged with Booth had brought an emotional component to things that she hadn't really ever had with anyone. Sex was easy. Sex you could just say had no strings attached. With Booth, that could never be the case; there were already so many strings between them that it formed a virtual web between their hearts; it could only complicate things. Of course she'd been told that it could also make everything so much more vivid and real; maybe it was worth crossing that line to find out. Maybe that was why Angela kept pushing her at Booth.

Booth broke through the comfortable silence as he came to a stop light, "Coleman said he was going to set up an interview for us with the guy that found the barrel." He nearly chuckled at the fact that she looked almost startled that his voice had intruded on her thoughts.

"Oh, that's good." She was used to getting to work the whole case, even when they'd been called to other parts of the country, she generally felt a little bit more in control than she did on this particular case but she was glad that the local FBI field office seemed to want them to have access to everything that might be relevant on the case.

"I told him that you'd probably want to see where the barrel was found and take some samples of the soil and the water from the bay to send back to Hodgins for comparison in case the trace from inside doesn't match up." Booth shot her a half smile; she really was beautiful when she was furiously thinking about something. He could almost hear the pistons in her mind firing; although given that this was Bones he was talking about, a finely tune precision race engine would be a far better description of what was going on inside that pretty head of hers.

"Yes, I do want samples," Why the local police hadn't done that bewildered her slightly. Surely that was the proper way to conduct an investigation, but then again she had to remind herself that state governments didn't have as many resources and expertise or the kind of budget for things like this the way that the Jeffersonian did; that was one of the primary reasons that she was routinely called upon to help.

"We just have to remember that we're dancing a real fine line; it's tribal land and we technically don't have a warrant; no one thought about it, but I'm sure when we talk to this guy tomorrow that he'll be happy to help us out." Of course Booth was more than ready to help him want to help them out in case there was any sort of hesitation on his part. He only hoped he wouldn't have to try that.

Of course the word that lingered in Brennan's mind was 'line' and then she was suddenly thinking about the invisible line that Booth had drawn between them that they couldn't cross. Her brow furrowed as she considered that maybe Booth didn't _want_ to cross it; he was a principled man and he would do something because it was the right thing to do even if it meant he wasn't happy about it. Her frustration seemed to spill out in her tone even though she wasn't talking very loud at all, "But you don't mind crossing _that_ line."

Booth's eyes widened; clearly she _had_ been thinking about Angela's conversation and about that damn line of his. He'd wanted to have this conversation later, maybe after dinner and some wine; ok, maybe a lot of wine. He glanced over at her and offered what he hoped was a friendly expression before he asked a question that caused a swirl of nerves to unfurl in his gut, "What if there was no line? What would be different if the line had never been there?"

Brennan had a proverbial deer in the headlights expression on her face as she tried to rationally consider if she could even come up with an answer to his question. What _would_ be different? Wasn't she glad that he'd put the line there in the first place? If he had tried to cross the line before she most certainly would have shoved him right back over it. She didn't have any answer, except that she was finally at a place where it would be harder to stay behind the line than to just step over it.

"Because I've been thinking a lot about that line, Bones," He could tell that maybe this wasn't the best time to be talking about this as they inched forward through rush hour traffic, but the moment had presented itself and he was sure he couldn't create a better opportunity. He plunged ahead when she didn't say anything, "At the time I thought it was a good idea...I thought somehow thought it would protect you."

"That's not rational, Booth; imaginary lines don't protect anyone," She was well aware of the danger they faced in the course of doing their jobs, she had been a target herself more than a few times so if he had drawn the line to keep her out of the line of fire, he had grossly miscalculated. And if he thought it could keep her from developing feelings for him that confused the hell out of her, well he was wrong about that too. It occurred to her that maybe he'd been trying to do what she had been so successful at doing herself; building a wall around her heart so that no one could hurt her. Of course she was learning that keeping everyone out was very lonely and she was tired of being alone. And whether she liked it or not, Booth had somehow crept into her heart bit by bit without really trying and she really didn't want him to leave. She glanced over at him, studying his expression and noticing the tension in his jaw she realized how hard this was for him, "I think you were trying to protect yourself; this isn't really about me at all."

He nodded briefly, "You're right, I _was_ trying to protect myself," but then he shook his head, "But you're wrong if you don't think that this is about you. It _is_ about you too. It's about what two people who started out as partners and became friends would do if there was no line holding them back." He wanted to be with her in a way that made his heart ache if she even dared to say no.

"A line is a very difficult thing to cross, Booth," Brennan looked at him carefully as he negotiated his way into the parking lot at the Edgewater and slowed the SUV into an empty parking space. Once they stepped over that line they really couldn't go back, not to the way things had always been; a place that had been a safe refuge for her in the midst of all of the storms life had thrown her way over the last few years. If they crossed over that line, everything would change.

"It's a line, Bones," There was the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of Booth's mouth as he continued, "You just step right over it." He hadn't really articulate what he was feeling about _her_ or even what he specifically wanted to happen between them, but he was sure now that they were thinking about the same thing. And even if she needed more time to consider all of this, it was only a matter of time before she realized that the line they'd been talking about had already disappeared behind them quite a while ago; something that he could only see clearly now that they were finally almost ready to admit to each other what they'd been denying to everyone else for years.


	23. Chapter 23

A light rain was falling as they climbed out of the SUV to head into the hotel. Booth took her silence as an indication that she needed to think about all of this a little more. Inwardly he cheered because it meant that she hadn't completely rejected the idea. If she needed time to have rational conversations with herself inside of that super-squinty mind he was confident that she would eventually see that the only logical option was to obliterate that line altogether. He glanced over and smiled at the way her brow was furrowed in thought; however, he didn't expect her to stop suddenly and look at him as if she had come to a conclusion already.

Brennan didn't even really notice the rain as she looked at her partner, logically there was only one conclusion that she could come to, even if that conclusion was by its very nature completely irrational. And now that she'd arrived at her course of action, it was only natural to communicate it to Booth, only she really didn't know how to start this whole thing; this was Booth and she couldn't treat this like a casual fling; it was already much more than that before it had even started. She looked at him expectantly, "So how would you propose we cross the line?"

A smile stole over Booth's face and he let out a soft chuckle even though he could tell that she was perfectly serious, "It's not a negotiation, Bones." Of course he should have expected this; neither one of them really knew how to take things beyond where they were. The status quo held a certain amount of comfort. Maybe the reason that they had been in denial so long about how they were feeling about each other was because they were in a stalemate of sorts. Neither one of them wanted to be the first one to admit it. He had sort of done that and now she'd made a counter move, but it was still seemingly dependent on him to actually make it happen. And all of his alpha male tendencies jumped for joy that for once, Bones wanted him to act like the man he was.

"I'm not trying to negotiate," Brennan felt a bit flustered; this wasn't easy for her. She had considered everything and had come to the conclusion that she couldn't ignore what she was feeling for Booth and now that he had made it clear that the line didn't have to be there and that he was willing to cross it, she wanted him to know that she was more than ok with it.

The rain was falling a little harder now and neither one of them seemed to really notice.

"We can cross it any way we like," Booth wanted to make absolutely certain that she really wanted this as much as he did and he took a step towards her trying to gauge her reaction as he did. She had the most open expression on her face and Booth's heart did a flip as he realized that she trusted him; she trusted him not to break her heart and leave her like everyone else in her life had. He wasn't sure he could live up to that kind of expectation, but he sure as hell intended to try.

Brennan could feel her heart rate begin to speed up and she mentally ticked off all of the biochemical responses going on inside of her body the closer that Booth got to her, "Are we crossing it right now?" She could feel her heart begin to beat faster. _Epinephrine tachycardia._

Booth nodded and then a grin spread across his face as he stood right in front of her, "I'm pretty sure that now would be a very good time." He was somewhat oblivious to the steady drizzle of rain that was falling as he reached out to brush a bit of Bones' hair out of her face. He wanted to etch this moment firmly in his memory, especially the way she was looking at him. He felt like more of a man with Bones looking at him like that.

She was almost ready to launch herself at him when her eyes fluttered shut of their own accord and she felt a simple press of his lips against hers. It was only then that she realized that it was raining because she could taste it on his lips. She found herself gripping the edges of his jacket wanting to make this kiss last for as long as possible and she could feel his fingers sliding into her hair and an arm slipping around her waist pulling her even closer.

_He was kissing Bones. The line was gone. He was kissing Bones. Her lips were so soft. Did she just whimper? The line was gone._ Booth was trying to file away every little bit of this kiss so that he could pull it out later and replay it in his mind. Just when he was about to pull away, she pulled him back in.

Now that she'd crossed the line, she wanted to make sure that there wasn't any chance it would ever be drawn again. Brennan deepened the kiss and wondered how the rain could be so warm in the middle of December; or maybe it wasn't the rain at all.

Booth rested his forehead against hers as he finally broke the kiss, "We should have done that a long time ago." It was true; he'd been harboring feelings for her in one form or another for nearly as long as he'd known her and despite the fact that she often irritated the hell out of him, he'd entertained shutting her up with a kiss more times than he could count.

Brennan couldn't help but smile at his confession, "I'm sure if we had, things wouldn't have turned out well." She hadn't been ready before now even though in retrospect she'd felt something for Seeley Booth that went far beyond friendly for quite a while. Her denial had blinded her for a long time to what was standing before her and maybe that had been a good thing. She hadn't been ready for it. She definitely was now.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Booth winked at her before he leaned in for another kiss; he was sure he was going to very quickly become addicted to kissing Temperance Brennan and he found himself gloating inside that if he had anything to say about it, no _other_ guy was going to get the chance to kiss her like this ever again.

It was when the rain was coming down in sheets a few moments later than Brennan realized that they probably should get out of the weather, no matter how much she was enjoying this monumental, line-crossing, make out session. She had a delighted smile on her face as she pulled away from Booth, "We should go inside." She was soaking wet and right now all she wanted to do was take a nice long hot soak in that tub in her room and think about what had just happened between her and Booth. He didn't strike her as the kind of man that was going to march her right back to her hotel suite and have his way with her, and while she was certainly not shy about sex, she was glad. She really needed to give herself a little time to let this sink in before they took the next step.

Booth let out a laugh and slung his arm across her shoulder, marching with her in solidarity to the entrance to the Edgewater where it seemed that they'd become something of a spectacle for those people waiting for taxis and airport shuttles. Among them was Natalie Wilson, Brennan's publicist with her mouth hanging open in delight as she stood next to her suitcases waiting for her ride to the airport. Booth winked at her and sauntered right on past her without saying a word; he was sure that Bones was going to get an earful in the not so distant future of when this little development had occurred, but right now, he didn't care if it was shouted from the top of the Space Needle.


	24. Chapter 24

The problem inherent with taking time to think about things, even in the context of a soak in a nice deep tub to warm up after a wonderful kiss in the rain was that it gave Brennan enough time to wonder if she had simply gotten caught up in the moment that the events of the last several days had provided or if she really wanted this romance with Booth to happen.

She reasoned that the imaginary line had really only been toed over so far; not completely obliterated if she were to approach the subject objectively. There was still time to back up and reconsider how all of this was going to affect her partnership with Booth if they continued along their current course of action. She wrinkled up her nose in frustration and let out a sigh. There were far too many variables to accurately predict the probable outcome of a romantic relationship with Booth. And it was completely unfair to make assumptions about those variables without talking with Booth about all that a change in the status of their relationship would imply. She wondered if he had taken a rational approach and logically thought through things, or if he was simply responding to emotional stimuli.

She let out a wry chuckle; of course Booth wouldn't have even factored in rational thought when it came to romance. At least she didn't think he would have. She was the rational one. He was more fly by the seat of your shoes or crazy wild socks or something like that.

One thing that she knew for certain was that she could not approach a romantic relationship with Booth as a simple fling or something casual that they just needed to work out of their systems. No, if they truly, irrevocably crossed the line beyond that rather memorable make out session in the rain then she needed to set her mind to be in this for the long haul. Anything less than that and she was almost certain that she would not only lose her partnership with Booth, but his friendship as well and that above everything was something that she simply wasn't prepared to lose.

Brennan glanced at the clock and realized that she was supposed to meet Booth shortly to go have dinner; this would be the perfect opportunity to have a rational conversation about all of this. She needed to be sure that all of the facts had been laid out on the table between them and that any decision to move forward was made after they'd carefully discussed the pros and cons; much the same way that they would approach a case. A smile spread across her face as she made her decision and pulled herself out of the tub to get ready to meet Booth.

Of course the one thing that Brennan hadn't considered in all of her musings as she walked into the lobby of the hotel as short time later was that despite her best intentions and rational thinking the biochemical responses her body began to shoot out as her mind registered that Booth was in sight were completely out of her control. No amount of rational thinking could prevent her from melting into Booth as his arms enveloped her and brought her in for a kiss.

As Booth released her a rather pleased grin began to spread across his face, "So the concierge told me about this Thai place up near Seattle Center and I thought maybe we could give it a try." Why he felt so nervous he wasn't sure; this _was_ Bones after all. But then again, this was _Bones_. He wanted desperately to impress her and was terrified that if he pushed her too fast that he'd somehow lose her. Staring down the crosshairs as a sniper wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as the prospect of screwing things up with Dr. Temperance Brennan.

"Thai sounds good," Brennan felt her lips curl into a smile of their own accord and she wondered how it was possible that her brain could short circuit so quickly. Clearly she had underestimated the power of endorphins to override her ability to focus on having a rational conversation with Booth about how this change was going to affect their ability to work together. Instead she seemed to be focusing on how much she just wanted to throw all caution to the proverbial tornado and bring him back to her suite so that they could definitively obliterate that line for the rest of eternity. Of course the fact that she hadn't been able to satisfy her biological urges in quite some time didn't help the matter at all.

"It's supposed to have good local reviews," Booth casually slung an arm over her shoulders; he'd done that more times than he could count, but this time it seemed to make him puff his chest out just a little bit more as if to announce to anyone that might look their way that she was with him. Of course if Bones knew what was going through his mind she would have just told him that he was giving in to his alpha male tendencies and today he wouldn't have argued the point with her.

"Do they have Mee Krab?" Brennan found the dish especially delicious and it had often been a point of competition between her and Booth as to who got to eat the last of it when they'd gotten take out.

"What Thai restaurant doesn't have Mee Krab, Bones?" He wasn't sure whether or not they actually did have the dish, but he was almost certain that tonight neither one of them would notice.

It was a relatively short drive through the traffic to Bahn Thai. The restaurant was situated north of Seattle Center in view of the Space Needle in an old house that had been spared the demolition that most of the others on its block had probably been subject to as the city began to encroach on the surrounding neighborhoods. It took Booth a little while to find a parking spot along the street and once he did, he attempted to round the vehicle so that he could open the door for Bones, however he wasn't quick enough.

"I am more than capable of opening a door, Booth," Brennan was well aware that it was something that men did to offer woman a sign of respect, but she had no doubt that he respected her; she just wanted him to know that they were equals in whatever this endeavor turned out to be.

Booth simply smirked at her and reached for her hand, "Bones, you're capable of a lot of things." He was picking up that she seemed to be a little conflicted and he hoped that she hadn't talked herself out of this. In the back of his mind he knew that he really should expect that she would try and back away from this; from him, and he began to mentally prepare himself for the assault of rational squinty-speak so that he could counter with arguments of his own as to why pursuing a romantic relationship between them was not only a good idea, but really the best idea.

"Yes, I am," Brennan was proud to be a self sufficient woman and it was difficult for her to admit that she actually needed someone the way she felt like she needed Booth. She knew deep down that it wasn't a weakness, but it made her feel vulnerable and that was a very uncomfortable place for her to be in. Maybe that was one of the reasons she felt like they needed to talk about the implications of how this was going to affect their working relationship. She had forged an unlikely friendship with Booth through their unconventional partnership and the fact that she'd developed feelings for him that had gone well beyond friendship seemed both perfectly natural and unsettling all at the same time.

Booth gave her hand a squeeze as they came to the entrance to the restaurant and he took the fact that she hadn't pulled it away as they walked as a sign that she really did want this no matter what sort of protests she might throw up in his path. "You know, Bones, since this is the only _first_ date we're going to have, I'd really like to open the door for you?" He looked at her expectantly hoping that she wasn't going to crush him with anthropology.

The voice in the back of Brennan's mind was tempted to launch into a speech about alpha male tendencies, but she mentally kicked it in the groin and simply smiled at Booth instead, "I'd like that, Booth. Thank you." There would be time over dinner to air her concerns, but for now she just wanted to enjoy the feel of his hand enveloping hers and the smile on his face that was there just for her.


	25. Chapter 25

"This line we've crossed," Brennan didn't waste any time at all about jumping right to what was on her mind after they'd ordered their food, "there are things we really haven't considered, Booth; about what all of this means." She had a hint of worry in her tone that she hoped that Booth didn't pick up on. She had compiled an entire mental list of things that needed to be addressed to her satisfaction before they could truly say that these feelings between them could be acted upon the way she'd like to.

Booth could see right through it and a gentle smile spread across his face as he reached across the table and enveloped her hand with his, "Who says we haven't considered what all of this means, Bones?" He for one had been considering what it all meant for quite some time. Fear was the only thing that had held him back before now, but it had gotten to a point that he just couldn't hide how he felt about her anymore.

A flicker of surprise registered in her eyes. They'd never really talked about this; if anything they'd been denying their feelings for a long time and therefore couldn't have been in a place where a conversation might have occurred.

"Just because we haven't voiced how things are going to change, doesn't mean that we both haven't been thinking about it for a while now." He smiled encouragingly. "Because otherwise I think we'd both still be standing firmly on the other side of that stupid line I drew pretending that we didn't mean something special to each other." He regretted ever having that out there in the first place, but as far as he was concerned, it was gone forever.

"But the logistics, Booth, we're partners," Brennan needed him to realize just how important it was to her to look at this thing between them objectively and rationally. She had to know exactly what it was that she'd have to let go of before she could truly embrace what she wanted, otherwise it might hold her back.

"So we've been telling everyone who'll listen for years," He squeezed her hand and smiled at her gently, "I know we're partners, but I think that we've been more than that for a while now and I don't really think anyone is going to be surprised about it." He knew that he and Bones had been the subject of quite a few water cooler discussions for nearly as long as they'd been working together both at the Jeffersonian and the FBI.

A faint smile stole over Brennan's face, "I suppose not; Angela has been pushing me at you for years." However, if she had taken her best friend's advice the first time she'd given it, she most certainly wouldn't be sitting here with Booth like this. He would have become one of an odd assortment of men who would forever be labeled ex, fling, or one night stand; she couldn't imagine that their partnership would be what it was today if that had happened.

Booth let out a soft chuckle at the mention of Angela Montenegro, "Are you going to tell her before or after we get back to DC?" He had half a mind to convince Bones to do the latter, but that was simply because it would be payback for her little lecture over the phone.

Brennan furrowed her brow as she regathered her thoughts on what it was she wanted to get out in the open between them in a logical rational manner, "What's going to happen to our partnership if we go forward with this?" She wanted this thing with Booth; she wanted it desperately, but she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with having to work with someone else if their partnership was broken up as a result.

Booth felt a flash of worry that she wanted to back out, but then realized that she simply didn't want this to change what they already had and he couldn't agree with her more. This unconventional partnership of theirs had started out as blackmail, but had turned into one of the most genuine friendships he'd ever had with one of the most beautiful and yet infuriating people he'd ever known. He wasn't going to take her concerns lightly because if he did he was sure that it would all be over before it had really started and all he would be left with would be the memory of those kisses that would surely torment him the rest of his life. He felt a smirk pulling at the sides of his mouth as he gave her hand another squeeze, "Bones, there's something that you need to know."

Brennan looked at him, feeling a swirl of nerves deep in her stomach as she wondered what in the world he had kept from her when they were discussing something as significant as stepping beyond the confines of their friendship into a romance, "What is it?" Irrational thoughts assaulted her and she quickly tried to squash them back down so she could listen to what he had to say.

"Cullen told me something before I left DC," He couldn't help but let out an embarrassed chuckle at the thought of it, "I think he has suspected that something like this was going to happen between us eventually." Booth felt a grin taking hold.

"Cullen?" Brennan was more than worried now; if anyone had the power to break her and Booth's partnership up it was Deputy Director Cullen. She was sure that the man didn't particularly like her; well he clearly respected her as a professional, but he didn't like squints working out in the field, but somehow had continued to allow it for nearly three years.

"He told me that if I was going to such an effort to make flying to Seattle to provide you with a security detail FBI business that either I was completely crazy or completely crazy about you," Booth was without a doubt crazy about Bones and he hoped that she could see it. He hadn't denied what his boss had suggested, but hadn't confirmed it either and he had inwardly cheered when he'd given his approval to fly out.

"I don't understand," Brennan didn't want to jump to conclusions; he seemed to be implying that Booth's boss seemed to know what was going on between the two of them before they had.

Of course she would want him to be as clear as possible and how could he possibly blame her; so much was at stake, "I don't think our partnership is in danger just because we're finally becoming what everyone else has assumed we already were for a long time." He'd had another conversation with Cullen when they'd been called on by the local field office to help with the case. Cullen had been much less subtle this time. He'd somehow gotten a hold of the interview on Good Afternoon Seattle and he'd come to the conclusion that Booth needed a good swift kick in his ass to either fish or cut bait when it came to his partner.

"You don't think he'll break us up?" Brennan wanted him to clarify what she'd just heard; it seemed too good to be true and doubt was evident in her voice.

"I'm sure that there are some details that will need to get worked out when we get back to DC; we may have to have someone else review our findings and sign off on things, but Cullen certainly did not sound interested in breaking up our partnership," Booth was sure that there would be compromises and concessions that would have to be made, but he was sure that even if it meant working with Zach once in a while instead of Bones that they would figure out something that would not only preserve their partnership but this budding romance between them as well.

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who has been reading. I really appreciate the time that you've taken to read my work. As I said at the beginning, the story is a work in progress and sometimes I don't get chapters out as quickly as I'd like; I tend to mull them over and let them wake me up in the middle of the night and keep me from being focused at work as I think through the details, so I'm also very appreciative of your patience.


	26. Chapter 26

Booth had more than enjoyed himself at dinner with Bones; they had shared hundreds of meals before, but none of those had held the significance of this first official date. A smile played at his lips as he reached across the table and laced his fingers with hers, this wasn't really their first date if he was honest with himself; it was only the first date that they were aware that they were on together. The reality was that they had essentially been dating for years and it was only now that they had seemed to catch up with where the rest of the world knew they should have already been.

Brennan seemed much more relaxed as the evening went on; now that the proverbial rhinoceros in the room had been addressed she concluded that there was no need for the kind of restraint that she'd been exercising for far too long. She was sure that if Angela knew about the shift in her relationship with Booth that she'd would squeal with delight, but given the time difference and the high probability that Angela was already engaged in her other favorite pastime, she reasoned that there was no need to tell her right away. She glanced across the table and her lips curled into a smile at the way Booth couldn't seem to stop touching her; not in any overt manner, but those simple little touches that made her realize that he was glad that he didn't have to hold back any longer either.

Neither one of them even noticed that Mee Krab wasn't on the menu, but as they finished up, they were more than satisfied with the whole meal. Most of the dinner crowd had long since left the restaurant by the time Booth and Brennan walked back to the SUV hand in hand and before they knew it they were back at the hotel and standing in front of Brennan's door at the crux of something that all of a sudden neither one of them seemed terribly certain of how to approach.

Booth looked as if he was going to simply give her a kiss goodnight and then very slowly extricate himself across the hallway where he was sure he wouldn't get any sleep at all because he'd be thinking about the beautiful woman sleeping in the Beatles' Suite. Then he'd have to let her drive the SUV up north so they could interview the guy who had found the barrel because he would be too tired to drive. He was sure that even Seattle strength coffee wouldn't help.

Brennan had other ideas. She did not want the evening to end and like so many other times over the course of the last few years she simply smiled at him and asked him if he wanted to come in for a little while. Of course, she knew that this was different, but the pretense of making the evening last a little longer seemed to work as Booth grinned at her and followed her without any hesitation into the suite.

"Did I tell you how pretty you look tonight, Bones?" Booth saw something in her tonight that he hadn't really seen there before and if he was thinking clearly he would have realized that the thing that was different was that his beautiful partner was looking at him as if he were the most important thing in her world. And that maybe, just maybe she was starting to fall off the edge of that precarious cliff called love that he was sure he'd tumbled over long before he'd ever followed her to Seattle.

Brennan felt a blush color her cheeks with its burn and she pursed her lips together into a smirk, "You don't need to use a line on me, Booth." Surely there was some sort of anthropological meaning for why men felt the need to assert their dominance by flattering the female. Flattery was simply empty words used to seduce. She cut her mental anthropologist off at the knees by delivering a proverbial roundhouse kick and dropping it effectively out of her mind for the moment so that she could respond to Booth as a woman who had deep feelings for him, "But thank you for the compliment."

"You're welcome," Booth knew that even in this age old ritual between a man and a woman that she would probably not approach it the way anyone else did, so he was surprised that she seemed to accept his comment so easily. His fingers seemed to have a will of their own as they wound into her hair before his lips found hers.

They stood there just inside the door of the suite trading slow deep kisses for quite a while before Brennan pulled back and simply laced her fingers with his as she pulled him with her over to the couch. As they settled in, she leaned towards Booth, "You look very symmetrically structured. And that's not just tonight." She seemed very proud of herself as she leaned in and kissed him.

Booth laughed against her lips and as he felt her stiffen a bit, he pulled away momentarily to chase away any doubt that she might have that maybe she'd said the wrong thing, "So in other words, you think I'm hot." He waggled his eyebrows at her in a cheesy move that he hoped would make her laugh.

Brennan smiled, "I suppose in the vernacular 'hot' would be an appropriate description." She could think of a few other descriptions that she'd like to use, most of which she had picked up from Angela and she understood were good for a man's ego, but somehow none of those seemed particularly appropriate in this moment with Booth.

Booth pulled her in closer and whispered against her ear, "Well I think that you're pretty damn hot too, Bones." He was lying really, 'blazing inferno' would have been a far more accurate description for how he felt about how she looked, but he wasn't sure she'd be able to make that leap, so he left the thought in the starting gate and kissed her instead. That kiss was followed by another, and then another, until he really had lost track of where one left off and another had begun.

Somehow in the midst of this meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society, Brennan had ended up perched astride Booth's lap, her fists gripping the front of his t-shirt as if it would bring him impossibly closer. She grunted her frustration as she leaned in a little further and began to kiss him more hungrily. After a few moments it became clear to her that although the couch was an ideal place to make out with Booth, it was certainly not ideal for what she had in mind. She pulled back and rested her forehead against Booth's, "Would I be insulting your Catholic sensibilities if I asked you to stay," Her palms rested against Booth's chest as she looked at him expectantly. Her intention was clear; she wanted him to spend the night.

"I'm not exactly an alter boy anymore, Bones," Booth had a smoky look in his eyes and his hands slid up her thighs, coming to rest at her hips as he took in the view of her in the soft light coming from the lamp next to the couch. His thoughts had been drifting into this territory for quite a while and he had considered long and hard what he would do if he found himself in this situation. Somehow, now that the damn line was gone he could find no reasonable reason outside of what was sure to be some very interesting visits to the confessional to not act on what he was feeling because they knew each other better than most people ever could before taking a step like this.

"I don't know what that means," Brennan wasn't sure that she even cared what that meant really, she just knew that it was time to blow that damn line into the stratosphere.

Booth's breath whispered against her lips, "It means that I'd love to stay."


	27. Chapter 27

There was no hurry off of the couch, if anything Brennan's invitation for Booth to spend the night simply intensified their make out session. Unfortunately it also increased their inability to recognize the danger signs of imminent gravity associated with yanking at articles of clothing without respect to what the trajectory point of the release of said article would do to their overall situation. Brennan tumbled to the floor pulling Booth right after her as his infuriating t-shirt went sailing off into the distance towards the stereo. She landed on the floor with an 'oomph'.

"Bones, are you ok?" Booth certainly hoped that she was; the last thing that he wanted to explain to anyone was that he maimed his partner during foreplay. The glare on her face assured him that she was perfectly fine and perfectly annoyed despite being completely sexy and gorgeous.

"If you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was say so; you didn't have to booby-trap your shirt," She knew that it was rather ridiculous, but at the moment her ego, and quite possibly her ass, was feeling a little bruised. The trouble with wanting someone who was fully clothed was that you had to pause now and then to help extricate them from those clothes and so far they managed to kick of shoes and get Booth's shirt off. As far as she was concerned, they weren't making very good progress at all given the ultimate goal.

Booth snorted out a laugh as the word booby-trap circled through his mind like a marquee and half a dozen quips followed right along after it; quips that he wisely decided to keep to himself lest Bones change her mind and send him off across the hallway for the rest of the night, "I'm sorry that my shirt was so challenging."

"Maybe we should approach this rationally and just get the clothes out of the way," Her face was fully involved in a frown as she considered how much more bodily injury they might encounter on the way to getting between the sheets.

Booth shut her and her rational rambling up with a kiss as he took full advantage of the leverage that being sprawled out on the floor afforded. He rested on an elbow and with his other hand he inched his way up the front of her blouse, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she wanted him to stay, that all of those fantasies that he'd worked so hard to keep to himself were going to finally be eclipsed by the real thing. His heart was beating wildly as he felt her fingers drifting down his back before coming to a firm grip on his ass. He was entirely unprepared when she flipped them over.

Brennan smirked down at Booth and pushed against his chest as she perched on his thighs, "You clearly weren't listening to me." With that she unbuttoned her own blouse and shrugged it off, leaving her sitting there in her camisole and jeans with a wicked smile on her face.

"Oh, I was listening, I just had other priorities," Booth gripped her hips and quickly sat up, throwing her off balance enough that she wrapped her arms around his shoulders; exactly where he wanted her. He leaned in and leisurely kissed her. She seemed to be in much more of a hurry than he was, but this was Bones and he wanted tonight to be memorable and for that reason he wanted to take this slow.

Brennan pulled away, her arms still laced around his neck, "I'm very good." And truth be told, she was rather anxious to show him just how good she was. She could appreciate that as the alpha male he wanted to show her his prowess and his stamina, but quite frankly, all she wanted was him, pure Seeley Booth plain and simple.

"I hear I am too," Booth nearly growled as he leaned in and kissed her again; he was sure that together they were going to be explosive and the thought of that compelled him to give up on slow and move right along to supersonic speed; a move he failed to communicate effectively to Bones until he'd knocked her right back onto the floor again.

She quirked an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure this isn't your first time?" She clearly knew that it wasn't, he was the father of a six year old for goodness sake, but he seemed to have all of the finesse of a clumsy colt at the moment.

Booth snorted out a protest, "No." He hadn't been this nervous since Parker was born; she deserved to know the truth. Of course maybe a modified version of the truth would be better, he was Special Agent Seeley Booth after all. His expression softened slightly, "It's just my first time with you and I'm a little nervous, Bones."

"I'm a little nervous too," Brennan was glad that she wasn't the only one, but it didn't change the fact that she wanted him very badly but she most certainly didn't want him in the middle of the floor when a very comfortable spacious bed was just on the other side of the suite.

Her confession made Booth smile and then relax as he realized that this was just them and it was going to be fantastic no matter how much they fumble around to get there. He moved to kiss her again, but she seemed to have other ideas.

Brennan pulled herself up from the floor and glanced over her shoulder, "Are you coming?" To emphasize her point she shucked her jeans off and moved purposefully towards the bed.

Booth didn't have to be asked twice as he followed suit and then nearly tackled her on the bed.

* * *

The lights from a ferry sailing silently across Puget Sound illuminated the darkness outside the window of Brennan's suite. She couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth as she watched it move in the distance at how content she felt just then. Being with Booth hadn't been perfect, but it had still been wonderful and any doubts that she might have had about whether he wanted her as much as she wanted him had quickly been erased as the last few articles of their clothing had been discarded. The press of lips against her shoulder caused her to let out a pleasant sigh, "I thought you were asleep." 

"Someone tired me out," Booth had a mixture of amusement and admiration in his voice as he trailed his fingers down her arm. Being with Bones like that had been far better than anything he'd imagined; and he'd been imagining it for long enough. The softness of her curves, the mewling sounds she made as he touched her were all etched into his mind. She was quiet and he hoped that she wasn't having second thoughts about this shift in their relationship, because it was way too late for him to go back to being just partners with her.

"Actually, it was probably the rush of norepinephrine and dopamine followed by a sudden decline that caused your fatigue," She had a smirk on her face as she turned to face him; she was more than pleased that she'd been the cause of his brief nap and she couldn't wait to tire him out all over again. She was very quickly becoming addicted to Seeley Booth.

"Hey, I have a new rule, no squinty-speak in bed," Booth had a sleepy grin on his face; he couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be just then and so he leaned in and kissed her, slowly savoring the feel of her lips against his, and oh, the feel of all of her pressed up against him; he could definitely get used to this.


	28. Chapter 28

"Someone has to be missing those people," Brennan had a furrowed brow as she considered the three victims whose remains she had gone over the previous day. Hopefully by now they'd arrived at the Jeffersonian so that Zach could utilize the technology that the institution afforded. Now more than ever she couldn't understand the brutality that humans committed against each other; it was in direct contrast to the night that she had just spent with Booth. That thought softened the expression on her face and she glanced over at him only to find him smiling like an idiot as he gripped the steering wheel as if he could somehow make the traffic move faster.

"And we're going to find out who they are so that we can catch the bad guys," Booth couldn't seem to keep a shit-eating grin off of his face despite the fact that they were only inching northward on the freeway towards the Everett field office where they were supposed to meet with the man who had found the barrel about ten minutes ago. No one had bothered to inform them that there was a major freeway construction project in full swing, a detail that he was going to make a point of mentioning to Coleman or Black the next time he saw them. Still, he was a happy man because _his_ Bones was finally really _his_ Bones and even gridlock traffic wasn't going to put a damper on his morning.

"I checked with Angela this morning and she ran some computer models based on where the barrel was found that suggests that it probably came from the south and drifted north, with all of the flooding and runoff she said that the most logical source would have been somewhere up the Snohomish river," Brennan had spent quite a bit of time on the phone before they'd checked out of the Edgewater Inn with Angela, Hodgins and Zach. Somehow she managed to get off the phone without letting it slip about the new development between her and Booth. She wanted everyone to focus on the case, not on her and Booth, including her and Booth. She'd had some level of difficulty getting her point across to him until she'd gotten out of bed; after that it had been a little easier, but now that they were stuck in traffic, her mind kept drifting back to just how wonderful it felt to be with him.

"So in other words it could have come from anywhere," There was a hint of frustration in Booth's voice, not just because of the proverbial needle in a haystack that they were apparently looking for but because he was actually wishing that Angela and the other squints were here doing their squinty thing so that the case could move along a bit faster. Of course the reality was, that he didn't really want them here, they would just get in the way of him and Bones spending some quality time alone together.

"No, I said that it most likely came from somewhere up the Snohomish river, not anywhere," Brennan had been very clear; she at least had narrowed it down, they could have had the entirety of Puget Sound and maybe even the Pacific Ocean to consider had Angela not run a few scenarios in the Angelator. Hopefully someone at the FBI field office would be able to offer more insight into the area upstream and what might have been affected by the flooding.

Booth wasn't in the mood to argue with her; he was more in the mood to stop the damn SUV and kiss her senseless, but even in traffic that was going at a crawl he was sure that it would cause more than just a little road rage, "So if you're convinced that it came from up this Snoho-whatever river why are we meeting with Matthew Barrett?"

"You said you wanted him to show you where he found the barrel," Brennan was simply reiterating what he'd told her yesterday. There hadn't been much to go on then other than the approximate ages of their victims and the fact that the female had been a few months pregnant, probably hadn't even been obvious to anyone else unless she'd told them.

"Yes, I did, I was using it as an opportunity to question him to see if maybe he knew more about it than he said he did," Booth wasn't so sure that this meeting was going to yield anything useful at all.

"So you're hypothesizing that he might have had some sort of involvement?" Brennan wasn't sure that it was even logical, but she needed to trust the evidence right now, even though they didn't have as much evidence to come to any sort of conclusion quite yet.

"I'm just not ruling it out before I talk to him that's all," Booth breathed a sigh of relief as they finally reached the exit that lead into downtown Everett where the field office was located. The small city reminded him of a myriad of other small cities around the country trying to revitalize themselves by tearing down older building and building up new ones.

"And what if you find that his only involvement was that he found the barrel just the way he told the tribal police?" Brennan glanced over at him and did her best to not stare at his lips. Her brows knit together in a frown as the reality of the effects of taking things between them into a romantic realm became apparent. She was going to have difficulty focusing on work if she let her mind wander as she took note of his lips or his fingers, or any other gloriously structured part of his body. The fact that she couldn't compartmentalize this the way she had other relationships was unsettling, but then she reasoned that it was because they worked so closely together. They would just have to set down some ground rules because she did not want to give up this partnership and after last night she sure as hell wasn't willing to give up him.

"Well if that's the extent of his involvement then that's one less suspect to worry about," Booth knew that they really needed to get an ID on the remains before they jumped too far ahead in this investigation and given that the remains had made it back to DC and Zach was currently going over them with high power squinty equipment much the same way that Bones had done with her beautiful eyes, he was confident that they would be able to do it rather quickly. Of course that was assuming that they were dealing with people that had actually been reported missing or had a criminal record. Otherwise they were going to basically be screwed.

"We don't have any suspects at the moment, Booth," She was sure that he was getting the chicken before the egg, or the cart before the donkey or something along that line.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Booth muttered under his breath and then let out a soft chuckle as he regarded the way her lips formed a bit of a pout as she sat there. His tone was soft as he reached over and enveloped her hand with his, "Hey, I know we're a little low on suspects, I'm just trying to think outside the box."

"What box?" Brennan looked at him a bit oddly even as she smiled at the way his hand held hers. She mentally chided herself for being so cliché; she was Dr. Temperance Brennan and she was a world renowned forensic anthropologist who was also a best selling author, but at the moment she silently heard the words of Angela and every cheesy description of happy couples flipping through her mind. She was disappointed when Booth released her hand.

"It's just an expression, Bones; it means to expand your mind instead of focusing in on what might at first seem obvious," He could tell from her furrowed brow that she was thinking about something and he certainly hoped that she wasn't having second thoughts and then in the next moment he mentally kicked himself for even thinking about having doubts that she really wanted to be with him.

"So in other words, if the first scenario, which might fit the evidence doesn't seem to fit after all, posit another scenario," It was perfectly rational scientific thought and she found herself smiling at Booth. No wonder she had feelings for this man; deep down beyond his well structured form and his cocky FBI agent persona was an intelligent man who could appreciate the pure essence of science.

"Huh?" Booth looked a little mystified at what she'd just said as he pulled into a parking spot in the garage underneath the building.

Ok, so maybe his love of science wasn't why she was attracted to him, "You were just trying to approach things from a different point of view," Brennan leaned towards him with a smug grin on her face.

"That's what I thought I said," Booth let out another soft chuckle, she could talk him in circles and make him dizzy but at the end of the day he was sure that he was crazy about this woman.

"Then why didn't you just say it?" Brennan leaned in a little closer, her brows arching upwards as if to tease him.

"I thought I did," Booth grinned at her as he shut the vehicle off and set the parking brake before he leaned in and kissed her. They were late already, but what were a few more minutes in the overall scheme of things?


	29. Chapter 29

Seeley Booth was frustrated as he walked in to interview Matthew Barrett. It hadn't even been 24 hours and he and Bones had already had their first fight. She had in no uncertain terms told him as she'd extricated herself from the kiss in his SUV that what they were doing just then was completely inappropriate, that they were professionals and that while they were working the case at least they needed to act like it. He hadn't had an opportunity to even clarify what in the hell she meant as she marched off in the general direction of the bank of elevators and proceeded to avoid his gaze as they made their way up to the floor that the interview was supposed to take place. Ok, he could understand the need to be professional, but they were already late. His face was pinched together as he smoothed his hand down the front of his shirt and slid into the seat at the conference room table across from Matthew Barrett, "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan." Booth hardly glanced over at Bones, hoping that she had softened the scowl on her face.

"You got stuck in the traffic mess too, huh?" Matthew Barrett looked a little amused at the situation, or maybe it was just relieved because he'd been late to the meeting at the FBI too.

"Yeah, traffic was a bear," Booth sounded short; he wanted to get to the point of this conversation so he could utilize his very professional skills as an FBI agent. "Agent Coleman told me that you found the barrel in a bay north of here and you notified Tribal Police." Booth looked at him skeptically.

"Yeah, that's right, I was working on my boat; checking on it really after all of the stormy weather we've been having and this thing had come up right next to it. I tried to haul it up into my boat, but it was a lot heavier than it looked and it sounded like it was full of something sloshing around. Sure I called the Tribal Police; what if it was toxic waste or something?" Barrett seemed like a normal guy; he was clean cut and friendly and from statements he'd given to the police initially, he was an environmentally concerned citizen too.

Brennan had been studying Matthew Barrett from across the table and something seemed a little off to her, "Mr. Barrett, can I ask you what you were doing on the reservation? You're clearly not Native American." His blond hair and blue eyes were in startling contrast to the dark hair and brown eyes that someone who was truly Native American would possess. Even if he had it in his ancestry, he looked far more Norsk than anything else.

"No, I'm not," He offered Brennan a friendly smile, "Norwegian on my mother's side and Swedish on my dad's. I live on leased land. The tribe offers leases usually in 50 year durations and I just own the structure that it sits on. A pretty sweet deal for me really because I wouldn't be able to afford waterfront property otherwise." With the way real estate prices had been soaring in recent years a shack on the water would have started easily at a cool million.

"Ah," Booth wasn't sure if this was important or not, but he made a note to look into a little deeper just because he wasn't sure he liked this guy. Or maybe that was just because of the way he was smiling at Bones. He had to resist giving him a glare that could disintegrate meteors.

"Have you had other debris wash up in the bay near your boat in the past?" Brennan was interested to find out if the flows were consistent with other major rain and flooding events and if that matched up with the scenarios that Angela and Hodgins had come up with.

Booth glanced over at his partner wondering just when she had taken the reigns in this investigation.

"Yeah, we get stuff floating in now and then, but mostly after flooding. A year or so ago we had a lot of snow fall in the mountains followed by a some unseasonably warm weather and it caused some near record flooding," Barrett seemed pretty pleased that he was being useful to whatever this investigation was. "In fact I found a door back then, it ended up coming from some house in Index that washed down the river."

"Index. Where exactly is that?" Booth was very interested now; if it was possible that debris from other storms had ended up in this bay then it was very possible that wherever this barrel originated was where they should be focusing their investigation.

"Up Highway 2. There isn't much there really, a little store, some cabins, and probably the only latte stand you'll ever see that offers hemp milk as a choice," Barrett snorted out a laugh at that as if it was one of the most ridiculous things he'd ever heard of.

"Hemp milk," Booth frowned as he considered that he preferred his coffee strong and black. What kind of world was it when you put hemp milk in your coffee? What in the hell was hemp milk in the first place?

"It's actually a great vegan choice, Booth. It's got a somewhat nutty flavor," Brennan interjected. Ever since she'd decided to become a vegetarian she'd been exploring the wonderful world of alternative foods.

"They have goat's milk too," Barrett had a rather animated look on his face; this was clearly far more interesting than his typical day.

Booth narrowed his gaze and spoke probably more forcefully than he'd first intended trying to get the conversation back on track, "I take my coffee black." He glanced over at his partner and couldn't help but soften his expression as he noted how serious she looked. Of course she was a professional, what in the hell had he been thinking when he'd wanted to make out in the FBI issued SUV when they had a witness waiting? Oh, that's right, he'd been thinking about just how wonderful it had been to wake up with a naked Bones in his bed, or rather that he'd woken up in her bed.

"Got it man," Barrett was cocky and he seemed pleased to have ruffled this FBI agent's feathers a little.

Booth really didn't like this guy now; he didn't strike him as someone who worked hard for a living and although he knew he was jumping to conclusions, he wondered if there wasn't more to his story than he was telling. Just to be on the safe side, he was going to make sure that a full background check was done on him and if he so much as used one too many tissues to blow his nose he was going to find some reason to haul him back in here for another round of questions. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Barrett, we'll be in touch if we need anything more."

"Nice to meet you both," Barrett walked out of the room looking just as sure of himself as he had during the entire interview.

"I don't like that guy," Booth muttered wishing that he possessed superhero powers of mind reading so he could figure out exactly why he didn't like him.

"He seemed very nice," Brennan thought that Booth was overreacting, "And he provided some information that may be useful. I'm going to call Hodgins and have him and Angela rerun those scenarios to see if Index fits into them."

Booth sat there and watched as she made the call wondering how in the world it had taken him this long to figure out how much she meant to him. Now that they were together he didn't want to let her go ever and he was sure that it would scare her. She didn't believe in marriage, she didn't want children and you couldn't get further from his Catholic upbringing than her firm belief that there was no God. Still he couldn't ignore the unparalleled force that seemed to have brought them together. Their partnership had been bumpy at first but they had eventually fallen into a symbiotic working relationship that just worked. He hoped that the same would be true of this romance they had just embarked upon.

Brennan glanced up as she ended her call to find that Booth was studying her, "What?" She was suddenly uncomfortable, especially since he'd seemed so agitated earlier when she'd pulled away from him in the SUV. A slightly panicked feeling welled up as she considered that he might just change his mind about this thing between them.

"Are we okay?" Booth looked genuinely worried that she would push him away and he only hoped that he could convince her that no relationship was perfect and that this, just like their partnership was going to take a little work to get it going.

"I'm fine," Brennan felt her heart beating faster and she looked for signs that Booth might be second guessing things.

"Earlier in the garage you didn't seem fine," Booth didn't want to get into specifics in the conference room just on the off chance that someone else might be listening in from the observation room on the other side of the two way glass.

"We were late," Brennan smirked at him, "And I didn't think that we should be any later." She relaxed a little as she realized that this shift in their relationship was just as scary for him as it was for her.

"That's why you're the brain person," Booth smirked back at her and then leaned forward a little and whispered, "But you're getting to be a pretty good heart person too."

A myriad of emotions flickered across Brennan's face in response, but she seemed to settle on an appreciative smile, "Thanks, Booth."


	30. Chapter 30

The interview with Matthew Barrett had been beneficial only in that it had confirmed, anecdotally at least, that the scenarios that Angela and Hodgins had run had real world plausibility. The barrel had likely come from somewhere up the Snohomish River; which Booth and Brennan had found out was fed by two other river systems, the Snoqualmie and Skykomish river systems. It was, however, the north fork of the Skykomish River that Index was situated near and that was where Booth was intent on poking around, regardless of the fact that they still didn't have much to go on in terms of the identity of their victims. Brennan was a bit annoyed that he couldn't at least wait until the skulls with the tissue markers that she'd sent overnight to the Jeffersonian had been entered into the Angelator so they at least had a face to show around, something that she'd expressed to him no less that six times as they'd headed east on Highway 2.

"Booth, I'm not sure that this is going to accomplish anything," Of course the fact that she didn't have any other tests that she could run and since she was dependent on the forensics staff at the state crime lab she couldn't exactly prod them along as quickly as she would have liked. That wasn't for lack of trying though, and so she'd gone with Booth on this rabbit hunt with assurances that just as soon as any results came back with something definitive they would call her.

"What it's going to accomplish is to figure out where the most erosion occurred during the flooding and give us a likely location for the original crime scene," The thought did occur to him, however, that although they might find where the barrel originated before it was sent downriver by floodwaters it didn't necessarily mean that would be where the murder of the victims occurred. And there was always the possibility that the original crime scene had met the same fate as the barrel and washed downriver. At the moment though it was the best thing he had to go on.

They had seen the evidence of what the flooding had done to the river basin area as they drove; debris was lodged against bridges and stranded in the middle of fields where the water had begun to recede. The highway itself had been spared damage by the fact that it was elevated above the flood plain. They passed through a town called Sultan that had clearly suffered some flood damage and a sign indicated that they still had several more towns to pass through before they'd get to Index.

"What if we don't find the crime scene?" Brennan really did want them to find something, but it seemed unlikely that they would be able to drive right up to where the murders had occurred and find their key suspect when they really had no idea where they were going once they got to Index. In fact given that most of the towns on the way up to Index were on the same river, how could they be sure that it didn't originate in one of those?

"Bones, I'm following a hunch," Booth let out a sigh and smiled as he glanced over at his partner, girlfriend, whatever they wanted to call what they had finally become. "A state trooper who patrols the area is meeting us at the coffee stand in Index and I've got Agent Black looking at missing persons' reports that might fit the approximate ages of our victims."

"So it's an _educated_ hunch then," Brennan couldn't help but smirk at him. Whether Booth would ever admit it or not, he had an inner squint that was dying to get out. He might pass it off as just doing good police work, but she knew that there was far more to him than a head strong FBI Agent. Just how much more of him there was made her smirk turn into a smile as she glanced out the window and let her thoughts drift briefly to the night before and how well acquainted she had gotten with a whole new side of Special Agent Seeley Booth.

"That's why they're called hunches; if there wasn't anything behind them, they'd be considered a wild goose chase," Booth let out a soft laugh and allowed himself an indulgent glance at Bones. Her curves seemed to taunt him from across the seat and so he forced himself to look back at the road instead.

"I still think that if we had waited for Angela to provide us with a face that we would be able to narrow things down quite a bit," At the core, the issue was not the fact that they were following an educated hunch or that Angela hadn't gotten back to her as yet, but that she felt powerless to do anything because she didn't have _her_ lab available. Brennan liked to have at least a measure of control in the situation. As it was, she'd had to argue to get the barrel itself sent back to the Jeffersonian so that Hodgins could run some of his own tests on it since the state crime lab didn't have the benefit of the kind of technology that she was used to having available.

"Bones, she'll email it to your Blackberry when she gets it and this way we're already there," Booth had been through this with her a number of times before on other cases and while he usually found it irritating, this time he found it sexy and endearing, especially when her lower lip seemed to push out into a pout. He couldn't help but think about exactly what they were doing last night when she'd done that exact same thing; somehow with that image etched into his mind, he couldn't look at her quite the same way. Not that he minded one iota.

Brennan glanced over at him with her lips pursed together; she knew that he was right. Everyone was working on this case as quickly and as precisely as they could and that was really all she could ask. Her expression softened, "Fine, but it's a lot easier to know if you've found a missing person if you know what they look like or have DNA to compare."

Brennan was sipping a hemp milk latte as she slipped onto the bench of the picnic table several yards away from the coffee stand in Index. Trooper Mark Johnson of the Washington State Patrol was seated across the table from her and Booth filling them in on the areas that had been affected by the flooding and offering a little insight into the locals.

"Not much up here in Index has really been touched, but then again, the runoff really came from the south fork of the river. There were quite a few houses and cabins down towards Gold Bar that washed away and I would be more inclined to think that you need to concentrate down there. As you can see the elevation here in Index is a lot higher than further down the river," Trooper Johnson pointed at a map that he'd laid out on the table. "Now something that you're going to need to be aware of is that even though a lot of these places are summer cabins and the like, it's likely that you might run into people with meth labs out here. They aren't exactly going to be thrilled to talk to the FBI for any reason, so make sure you're armed, and if you don't mind me saying so, you might give the Snohomish County drug task force a call and coordinate with some of those guys before you try contacting any homeowners in here." The law enforcement officer looked like the poster boy for the State Patrol with his boy next door good looks and easy going personality.

"Is it an interagency task force?" Booth was familiar with the concept and he was impressed that something like that was in place, but at the same time it added a level of danger to the overall scenario that he wasn't thrilled about having Brennan exposed to. Meth users were unpredictable, but meth dealers were another thing entirely and in the back woods the potential for a heavily armed arsenal was a distinct possibility. This was no time for him to go Rambo.

"Yes, sir, it is," Trooper Johnson was a consummate professional, "In fact, I'll make a few calls myself and see if the Snohomish County Sheriff's office can help you out; some of those guys know what's off the beaten path here and they also provide the basic police support for some of these smaller towns." He was very familiar with the deputies that worked for the county and he reasoned that they would be able to help this FBI agent from DC far better than he could. His beat was mostly trying to make a highway that had garnered the nickname 'Highway of Death' safer by catching speeders and drunk drivers before they caused a deadly accident.

Brennan had been quietly taking it all in and as she considered that they still didn't know who their victims were, she wondered if they had been caught up in the drug issue or had simply been homeowners in the wrong place at the wrong time, "Can you recall any missing persons' reports that looks like either of these two pictures?" Angela had indeed come through with a picture mail to her Blackberry; the images weren't perfect but the Angelator had done a great job recreating the faces of what their victims might have looked like.

Trooper Johnson took at look at the image and his brow furrowed in concentration as he considered whether he'd ever seen these two people before. He glanced up and handed the phone back as he shook his head, "Can't say as I recall, Dr. Brennan." He gestured over towards the latte stand, "Of course these folks see much more than I do; maybe they'll be able to tell you something."

"Thank you," With that, Brennan was out of her seat and sauntering purposefully over toward the latte stand.

It wasn't much, but Booth's face held the hint of a smile anyway. He knew that now that Bones knew what the victims looked like that she wasn't going to stop until they figured the whole thing out. Bad guys be damned.


	31. Chapter 31

Brennan's brow was furrowed as she and Booth headed back from Index; the woman who ran the coffee stand hadn't recognized either of the victims as regulars or anyone that she could recall. What Brennan had surmised from that was that either these two didn't indulge in four dollar cups of coffee or they weren't from around there. She was beginning to believe that what Trooper Johnson had suggested was far more likely, that if they lived along the river at all, it was mostly likely somewhere downstream, but without an ID on their victims, they would be hard pressed to know where to start. Still the meeting with Trooper Johnson hadn't been a complete waste of time; he had given Booth a few contacts that would meet with them tomorrow to go over a strategy for how to proceed in an area where police presence wasn't always particularly welcomed. Brennan glanced over at Booth who seemed to grimace as he sipped the latte that she'd gotten him, "You don't have to drink it, Booth; I just thought maybe you should expand your horizons a little."

"Hemp milk, Bones?" He glanced over as he settled the coffee into a cup holder, "I don't even like regular milk in my coffee." Although, the slightly nutty flavor added something interesting, the fact that it was in his coffee made him frown. They were headed back to the FBI field office in Everett; Agent Coleman had called him to let him know that there were several missing person cases that might be potential matches to their victims. He would just have Bones take a look at them with her squinty mind and with a single glance know if the bone structure of the skull matched up with the picture from the file. He smiled as he considered that to him she really was Wonder Woman.

"We could stop somewhere if you need regular coffee," Brennan recalled seeing any number of coffee stands that seemed to dot just about every parking lot or strip mall in the entire Seattle area; surely even out in a more rural area there had to be a coffee stand somewhere. They had just pulled into Monroe; one of the larger towns on Highway 2. Clearly this town had boomed at some time because the road widened to four lanes and traffic actually seemed to slow considerably.

"I might need regular coffee just to get the taste of this out of my mouth," While that was true, Booth considered that they really hadn't had a decent break all day and quite frankly he wanted a chance to at least attempt to kiss Bones before the end of the day. He was still feeling a little frustrated from his thwarted make out session earlier that morning. But he was a professional and profession he would be; if he had to that is.

"Booth, Starbucks is up there on the right," Brennan pointed to a store in a strip mall just off the highway. It seemed that even rural towns in the Seattle area couldn't escape the caffeination of America by the coffee empire, something that she found interesting from an anthropological perspective. 

Booth didn't hesitate as he steered the SUV into the large parking lot; the strip mall was anchored by a grocery store a couple of fast food joints and numerous mom and pop shops; the thought of real unadulterated coffee sounded very good. "Nothing like hemp-free coffee."

Brennan simply rolled her eyes at his comment as he parked the vehicle. She fell into step with him as they walked into the store, a bell on the door jingling their arrival. The aroma of coffee blended with the sound of steam as it foamed milk greeted her senses; true their wasn't any pie to be had here, but it still made her think of the Royal Diner back in DC and how much she was looking forward to sitting there with Booth at the end of their case.

"Bones you want a real coffee?" Booth quirked an eyebrow at her as they stepped into line. He was pleased that his jab at hemp milk earned him a smirk and a roll of her eyes and he smiled when he felt her reach over and lace their fingers together.

"I've had my coffee, Booth," She felt herself leaning into him and she stifled a laugh as she considered that if Angela could see her just then holding onto Booth's hand like that in public that her squeal would shatter the windows. This feeling that she had towards him was so uncharacteristic when she compared it to the previous relationships that she'd had that she wondered if this was what truly falling in love felt like.

"Drip coffee please," Booth didn't even notice the barista behind the counter flirting with him as she got his coffee and handed him his change. At that moment, Booth's attention was firmly on Bones. He was tempted to just linger in the coffee shop, but they had a case and some missing persons' files to review at the field office in Everett, so he was just going to have to stay on task. Besides, he wasn't sure that if he even tried to kiss her while they were working if she wouldn't just give him the same kind of lecture he'd gotten earlier

They slipped into the SUV and Booth had barely set his nice strong, black coffee in the cup holder before Brennan launched herself at him. The entire time they'd been standing in line inside of Starbucks she'd been thinking about just how much she wanted to kiss him and so she hadn't even hesitated once he'd set the cup down. It wasn't until the center console seemed to be pressing firmly into her thigh and Booth's hand was halfway up the back of her shirt that she realized that maybe they she should come up for air.

Booth had a mystified grin on his face as Bones broke off the kiss. Earlier she had lectured him on being a professional and now she was behaving in a decidedly unprofessional manner; not that he was really going to complain about it. Too much that is, "Uh, what happened to professional?"

She pursed her lips as she let her not so logical rationale slip out, "We were late to a meeting then...even FBI agents and their partners are allowed to have a break now and then." Clearly she was shooting from the fly so to speak, but his irresistible lips had been taunting her really since they'd been talking with Trooper Johnson up in Index.

Booth let out a soft chuckle, "And exactly how long are these breaks supposed to be?" He knew that they had at least a little time before Agent Coleman was going to wonder just why it had taken them so long to get back; not that it mattered to Booth, he just wanted to get he victims identified so they could find and arrest the bad guys and head back to DC.

"I believe that federal labor laws provide for two paid15-minute breaks other than the lunch hour per 8-hour work period," She was familiar with the labor laws although she hardly ever adhered to them herself. And if she rationalized it maybe she could fit in a few of those breaks she never got to use to make up for lost time. The fact that they were doing extended field work most likely added to the number of breaks that they were allowed to have and since she couldn't recall anything that they'd labeled as a break thus far, clearly then it was ok that they take one right now.

Booth wasn't about to question it, he simply leaned in and kissed her. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that this was clearly not professional behavior and that if they stopped and approached this logically that they needed to acknowledge that they simply lacked the ability to keep their hands and lips off of each other now that they had decided that they wanted to be together. He only hoped that this wasn't going to be a problem when they got back to DC; somehow he didn't think that Cullen would approve if he suddenly decided to make out with his partner in the middle of an interrogation for example. Of course this Washington was so far from that Washington that he wouldn't ever even know about this display of unprofessional behavior seeing as how they were on a break and all they were doing was kissing, and maybe a giving out a grope or two here and there.

By the time that Brennan decided to disentangle herself from Booth, she had a rather pleased grin on her face for using logic and rational thought to justify their impromptu make out session. And as she smoothed out her blouse and fastened her seatbelt she glanced over at Booth who was trying to put on his best FBI agent face. As she brought her gaze back to her side of the SUV she noticed Booth's cup of coffee sitting nicely in the cup holder. She couldn't resist stating the obvious, "I think your coffee might be cold by now."


	32. Chapter 32

Agent Coleman had indeed gathered some promising missing persons' case files for Booth and Brennan to review. He was throwing out several theories of how he thought some of them might have come to be the victims inside of that barrel; very clearly conjecture, and Brennan really disliked conjecture especially when there was no solid evidence to support it. Either the agent was dense or he just didn't take the same care with his job that Booth did, but one well placed glare from the good doctor shut him up quite satisfactorily as she settled into a conference room to review the files. Some of them, Brennan immediately dismissed for either not being the correct height or the wrong age without even looking at the photos, but then she very quickly honed in on a very compelling case file, "Booth, I found them."

Booth glanced over at Coleman with a look that said 'I told you so' before he turned his attention to his partner, knowing full well that it was useless to sift through the other files that Coleman had pulled for them to look at.

She studied the faces and easily saw behind the tissue and tendons the structure of the very skulls that she had shipped off to the Jeffersonian only the day before. Brennan's brow furrowed as she read what little information the file held and she felt a pang as she considered that the loss of these two victims had created a tremendous void not only for their families, but for the scientific community as well. She glanced up at Booth, "Jill Alexander and her colleague Caleb Walker were doing some water sampling work in the upper Skykomish area last spring when they disappeared. Their company vehicle was located, but no trace of either one of them was found."

"Until now," Booth looked somber; he could tell that the fact that the victims were squints affected her a little more deeply. He was a little disturbed by it all himself. He could understand maybe a little bit more if the pair had been caught up in a drug deal gone bad, but this was just a couple of squints that had apparently been in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Brennan was still reading through the file, "They had both just started their careers." She glanced up, it was clear that she had shifted into professional mode. This had just become a bit more personal and she needed to detach herself so that she could compartmentalize and focus. 

Coleman interrupted, "How can you be so sure that those two are the victims from the barrel?" He didn't doubt her expertise per se; he just wanted to understand how one glance at a photograph could equal a positive identification. In his experience getting an ID this quickly just didn't happen; sometimes it never happened.

"We need to get DNA to confirm the IDs," Booth knew that in his eyes at least that Brennan was dead on with the identification of the victims; however, in this new age of information and its proliferation of crime dramas, DNA would be irrefutable. 

Brennan simply nodded in agreement, "The DNA will simply confirm what we already know." Science was something that she could count on; something she took comfort in when she finally knew who their victims were. She would do her best to make sure that science helped them bring closure to the families and justice to the victims. 

"Only if there was DNA available when the case was filed; there might not have been anything to gather it from at the time," Booth knew that it was difficult to ask an already distressed family for a DNA sample when all they wanted was their loved one back. Asking for DNA was tantamount to telling them that you thought there was no hope that they'd ever be found alive.

Coleman remembered this particular case; he'd worked the case because the victims had been working on federal land and it had fallen under FBI jurisdiction, "There should be DNA samples in CODIS; that was my case." He looked a bit shaken up because he had gotten to know Jill Alexander's family and as for Caleb Walker, well, his girlfriend nearly had a nervous breakdown when she'd brought in a toothbrush and a comb in hopes that providing his DNA would magically bring him back. Cases like that tended to get to you because it made you think about your own kids at home and that your hopes for them to grow up might just come to a tragic end without any warning at all. Things like this weren't fair and that was probably why he had chosen to do this for a living.

"We need to contact the families," Brennan wondered if Jill Alexander's husband even knew that she was pregnant; although she assumed that something as life altering as a pregnancy would be something that a wife would share with her husband.

"I think that I should be the one to do it," Although Coleman had wanted to avoid the political red tape that a multi-jurisdictional case he knew that he needed to man up and act like the FBI Special Agent that he was. He owed the families that much. "I think that we need to confirm the DNA first though; I'd hate to be wrong."

"She won't be wrong," Booth defended Bones; he knew that if she was sure, that the DNA would prove that. "We should talk to their employer and find out what in the world they were sampling up there." In the back of his mind he wondered if there was something controversial about the project they were working on; he'd learned the last time he'd had a case out here that this state had more than their fair share of wacko tree huggers that would take to vigilante justice that made absolutely no sense.

"Already ahead of you there too," Coleman interjected, "If I remember correctly, it had something to do with salmon. Apparently the water quality in the river is an issue or something." He hadn't understood most of what he'd read in the reports that the firm they were employed by had provided when the case had first been opened.

"Well maybe you should go dig those up," Booth was slightly annoyed, "We can have some of Dr. Brennan's colleagues at the Jeffersonian review them and see if they can make sense of it." He could see right through Coleman's crap. In his opinion he was an agent that really hadn't worked as hard as he could have to get where he was.

"I'll have Agent Black take care of it," Coleman could tell that Booth was a bit cocky and a little too sure of himself. He wasn't particularly interested in getting into a pissing contests and so he pulled himself out of the seat he'd settled in and addressed Dr. Brennan, "And I'll have the crime lab run the DNA against the original samples from the missing persons' case."

As he disappeared through the door of the conference room, Booth glanced over at Bones, "I still want to talk to their employer and the families." There was something that you just had to get the feel of firsthand when you worked a murder investigation and he wanted to know more about Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker and figure out why they had been murdered.

"Do you think that someone they knew had something to do with it?" Brennan was used to Booth spinning wild theories, but this was a little early in the investigation for that even for him. 

"I'm not making any assumptions quite yet, but I'm interested in knowing if Jill's husband knew she was pregnant and if he's the father," It wouldn't have been the first time that a jealous husband had lost control and committed an unspeakable act.

"It's possible that Jill didn't know she was pregnant. Wouldn't Agent Coleman have already checked out his alibi?" Brennan had a measure of confidence in the local FBI agent. 

"Well maybe we need to check it again," Booth was just trying to form his plan of attack; he hoped that the husband was a good guy who had nothing to do with it. However, it sure as hell would be easier to solve this and wrap things up if it turned out to just be a classic case of jealously.

"Booth, I think we need to have a little more evidence in hand," Brennan knew that Booth trusted his gut, but she needed to see something concrete that might show them which direction they needed to go in. It was fine to talk to the families and it was fine to talk to employers, but what that would really do was give them more information on the victims to understand a little bit more about who they were; it wasn't necessarily going to deliver a killer to them on a ladle.

"Well, what have the squints found with what you've sent them?" Booth knew that Bones was dying to call the Jeffersonian to see if Zach or Hodgins had found anything new; maybe by now the barrel and some of the human soup that she'd sent back there had been analyzed and they'd been able to work some of their squinty magic to help them solve these murders. He smiled because she didn't even hesitate as she reached for her cell phone. As Bones was chatting away with Hodgins Booth let his mind wander. They had a few more things to do before they could call it a day, but he was most certainly looking forward to putting the case on the back burner tonight and focusing just on Bones.


	33. Chapter 33

The state crime lab branch in Marysville had finally come back with some of the test results that Brennan had been anxiously waiting for and most of them had been inconclusive so she was very glad that she had insisted on sending additional samples to the Jeffersonian along with the barrel so that Hodgins might be able to use his expertise to see if he could find something that the local forensic team had missed with their limited equipment. Without more definitive evidence the case could very well end up at a standstill and now that she was sure she had identified the victims she wanted to make sure that they got justice. She had made her case to Booth that if they had the dental records of the victims that they could confirm their identities much faster than waiting for DNA which she had been informed by the lab director could take nearly two weeks to get back; and that was only _if_ the crime lab pushed it through as a priority.

She hadn't had to ask him twice.

Booth had threatened to go up the FBI food chain to Deputy Director Cullen if Coleman didn't get his act together and get a hold of the dental records; something that Booth reminded him should have been done when the initial missing person cases had been opened. The fact that the local agent was going to deal with the mess he'd made and inform the families about what had been found before he actually had anything about the case that he could share was a lesson that someone else should have taught him years ago. Booth wondered to himself how in the hell the guy had made Special Agent in the first place.

That had been several hours ago and in spite of the fact that there was a lot more on the case they could be working on; the time difference between the East Coast and the West Coast played a hand at making Dr. Temperance Brennan willing to wait until morning before she called Hodgins again and ask for any additional results. Especially since the last time she'd called, Angela had intercepted the phone and informed her that she and 'Hodgie' were leaving for the night because they had plans to go home and satisfy some biological urges since it was already past nine and the workday had officially ended four hours before in case she wasn't aware of it.

That seemed to be just what Booth needed to finally convince Bones to leave and get something to eat. Now they were sitting in an Italian restaurant in downtown Everett called Smashed Tomatoes sipping glasses of a local red wine while they waited for their food to arrive. Despite the fact that she had been thinking about the case all day, Booth's features were doing a fine job of distracting her. Her mouth twitched upwards into a smile even as nerves seemed to swirl in her stomach, "I hope you don't mind, but I changed the reservations at the hotel."

Booth felt his heart leap up into his throat; when he'd made the reservations, it had been for two rooms, but that had been before last night, "Oh?" He didn't want to get his hopes up, for all he knew, she figured out that he'd arranged for rooms with a connecting door and she wanted a solid wall between them. Somehow he knew that wasn't true but inside he felt more like an insecure 16 year old than a strong manly FBI agent who had just snagged the woman of his dreams.

"I asked about an upgrade since I know that your per diem doesn't allow you much…and perhaps I'm overstepping some boundary here, but I didn't think you'd mind if we shared," There it was, Temperance Brennan felt as if her heart had stopped beating while she waited for Booth to blink or say something. At the time she'd placed the call, the idea seemed perfectly logical; she was making it clear that this step they'd taken was one that she really wanted and while it was difficult for her to articulate what it was that she wanted from this, she knew that she wanted him. Since they had already spent the night together, it didn't seem particularly rational to spend money on two hotel rooms.

Booth couldn't wipe the grin off of his face as he enveloped her hand with his and gave it a squeeze, "No overstepping here, Bones." He wanted to kiss her just then, but the damn table just wasn't situated very well for it. That was ok, though, there would be plenty of time to kiss her later.

Brennan felt her own smile widening and she tilted her head to side, "I booked a suite, a really nice one actually." When the desk clerk at the hotel realized that she was best selling author Temperance Brennan she immediately offered the best suite they had; it overlooked Port Gardener Bay and had a private hot tub out on the deck. Not that she was sure that they would have the opportunity to use the hot tub given that it was December and the weather hadn't exactly been favorable. But if the rain held off, she was feeling a little adventurous.

"A suite, huh, Bones," The timbre in Booth's voice was husky and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he considered how much he had wanted something like this with Bones but had never imagined it better than the real thing. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain the absence of a room on his expense report, but then again he wasn't planning on hiding this newly formed romance with Bones from Cullen either.

"And not just any suite," Brennan's face lit up with a conspiratorial grin, "It's the best suite." Despite the fact that she wasn't given to giggle, she nearly let one out. "This one has a private hot tub." All the ways that they could use that hot tub flipped through her mind like a slide show and she reasoned that it would be a waste if they didn't at least try and take advantage of it while they were there.

Booth leaned in and his voice took on a conspiratorial tone of its own, "And I didn't even think to pack my swim trunks." He waggled his eyebrows at her a little bit knowing full well that she probably knew that. He'd most definitely gotten the impression that Bones was an adventurous woman before they'd gotten together, but now that they were together, he was thanking every saint he could think of for that fact.

Brennan looked perfectly delighted at the sensual tone of the conversation, taking a sip of her wine before leaning in a little closer to Booth, "I didn't pack a suit either, Booth." She waggled her eyebrows right back at him; she was definitely enjoying this, especially after the day they'd had.

Booth groaned as he let out a laugh just as the waiter brought their food. As the fragrance of his entrée hit his senses, he remembered the other thing he was hungry for and his fork quickly speared a ravioli and smiled at Bones as he popped it into his mouth. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her just then to pick up where their conversation left off, but he decided that he'd just save it until they were truly alone and he could show her too.

"Good?" Brennan had been pleased with the array of vegetarian friendly dishes and she watched Booth attack his food with gusto as she swirled pasta around her fork to take a bite of her own dish.

"Amazing," Booth was certainly enjoying the food, but the way he was looking at her clearly conveyed what exactly he thought was amazing. His thoughts turned to that suite and the private hot tub and somehow that just made him eat just a little bit faster.

"Mine's pretty good too," Brennan smiled at him and the ease with which they had seamlessly shifted the conversation without either of them feeling awkward. She was most definitely looking forward to after dinner, but for now she was mostly content to just sit there and enjoy the food, the wine, and the company.

"Eat up then, Bones," Although Booth looked quite angelic just then, his grin was positively devilish, "You're going to need your strength tonight."


	34. Chapter 34

Thoughts of the hot tub were at least momentarily forgotten as Booth fumbled with the key to the room while trying not to let his lips leave Bones'. Somehow the knowledge that she wanted to share a room with him had opened a proverbial floodgate that had started in the SUV when they'd left the restaurant. There had been a momentary break when they'd checked in at the front desk of the hotel and then had very quickly resumed in the elevator. Since the hotel only had three floors, the make out session in the elevator hadn't lasted very long, but as he fumbled for the slot the key was supposed to fit in, he realized that he was going to have to break the kiss if they were ever going to get inside the room.

"Uh," Brennan's complaint came out in the form of a grunt, but as the door to the suite opened and Booth grinned at her, she couldn't resist grinning back, "Nice work." She could focus for a few minutes; at least long enough to get the luggage inside and then she didn't care as long as she was kissing Booth again.

"Thanks, Bones," Booth kicked the door shut and let his bag fall just inside the door and then he found himself being pushed back against the door by one very feisty forensic anthropologist. Kissing her was his new favorite thing, however, he didn't want to spend the entire evening up against the door and so he propelled her into the room with one eye open in hopes that he could navigate them towards a couch, a chair, or maybe the bed.

Brennan's hands slipped underneath Booth's jacket, trying to find a way to push it off so that she'd be one step closer to where her mind had been since they'd share a slice of Tiramisu. She was vaguely aware of the fact that her jacket was underfoot as Booth had managed to shove it off of her as he propelled her backwards. Unfortunately, she didn't see it fall and she tripped on it.

"Easy there, Bones," Booth gripped her a little tighter to keep her from falling backwards and as he noticed an open set of French doors with the foot of the bed visible, he changed directions and propelled them towards it, intent on getting them there quickly and with as much clothing removed as possible.

Brennan's fingers gripping fistfuls of Booth's shirt made her realize that she was going to have to tug it off of him the regular way; as the laws of physics would have it, simply pulling it towards her did not exert enough force to rip it off of his body. She smiled inwardly at the thought and promptly pushed it up in the hopes that he would get the message and help her out; he didn't seem to.

Booth was becoming frustrated at the lack of progress they were making towards the bed, but that was mixed with the frustration that getting clothing off involved letting go of Bones; he made a quick decision as his lips locked with hers again. He slid his hands down until he reached the backs of her thighs and he simply hoisted her up, smiling as she instinctively wrapped her legs around him.

Brennan's fingers slid through Booth's hair, his shirt forgotten for the moment as she found her pelvis flush with his. She was trying to make the most of the moment until she found herself falling backwards, letting out a squeal in the process until she realized that he'd dropped her onto the bed.

Booth arched his eyebrows at her suggestively and then peeled off his shirt before kicking off his shoes and going for the buckle on his belt. The fact that Bones was just laying there watching him with a rather devilish smirk of his own made him stop what he was doing, "You know you're a little behind here, Dr. Brennan." His inference was clear that if they were left to helping each other out of their clothes they were going to take far longer than if they each individually took care of the situation.

"Thank you for that update, Agent Booth," Brennan couldn't hide her amusement or her admiration for the wonderful view of Booth who was now working on getting his socks off. Part of her just wanted to lay here and watch him and the other more rational part of her reminded her that it would be far more expedient to the situation at hand if she were to get off the bed and help herself out of the rest of her clothes. Rationality won out.

Booth was down to his boxers and pulling the bedding down when it occurred to him that she had made an offer over dinner about a hot tub that he was very interested in taking advantage of. He glanced up as he started to remind her, but immediately lost his train of thought, "Hot...Bones." Apparently the sight of his sexy partner in nothing but her underwear eclipsed the idea of the hot tub.

Seeing Booth like this made Brennan realize that all those times that she had brought up sex in conversation it was the fact that she was discussing it with _him_ that made him uncomfortable; not because he was a prude but because apparently all he could think about then was how much he wanted to have sex with her. That much was apparent even with him just staring at her as he climbed onto the bed.

Booth seemed to regain his ability to speak as he pulled the covers over them, "What about the hot tub?" He really didn't care if they ever got around the hot tub if it meant that he could spend every night for the rest of his life just like this; a thought he was not about to share with Bones anytime soon.

Brennan felt a rush of endorphins as she felt Booths hand sliding across her waist and his breath hitting her mouth as he leaned in to kiss her. Her rational mind kicked into high gear as he began to pepper kisses along her jaw, "It's good for foreplay, but it can make intercourse painful because the lu-" Oh, his mouth felt so good against hers.

Leave it to Bones to start spouting squinty-speak while he was trying to make love to her; he decided that kissing her seemed to be a very effective way of cutting her off. He pulled back to lean in and whisper something sexy when she picked up where she left off.

"And while the male is thrusting, bacteria in the water-" Brennan made a note to herself that Booth's mouth was the best thing she'd ever tasted, and oh, his hands, how could one man's hands make her feel this good. When in the hell had he managed to get her bra off?

Booth pulled the covers up over their heads to sort of cocoon them from the rest of the world; he wanted Bones to think about nothing else than the fact that she was going to have some of the best damn sex of her entire life if he had anything to say about it. And given the way she was tugging at his boxers, he was fairly certain that she wanted the exact same thing.

Brennan was feeling a bit of sensory overload as she felt Booth's weight press her body back into the mattress and nestle himself in between her thighs. And as his lips connected with hers again, she felt a rush of emotions that she hadn't expected. She didn't believe in love, but then again, maybe she had never really experienced love before; maybe she had never really been in love before. The realization hit her just as a rush of euphoria washed over her, she Temperance Brennan was most definitely in love with Seeley Booth.


	35. Chapter 35

Brennan felt a bit like what she supposed a cat would feel as she stretched out lazily next to a sleeping Seeley Booth. Under normal circumstances she might have already been up for the day, but these were most definitely _not_ normal circumstances and she was more than content to just stay put and enjoy exactly where she was. The corners of her mouth pulled upwards into a sleepy smile as she recalled the previous night. After Booth had sufficiently 'rocked her world' as he had phrased it; they'd come to a mutual agreement that sitting in the hot tub for a while sounded like a wonderful idea. To a certain extent it _was_ wonderful; just not the part about how freaking cold it had been outside or the sideways rain mixed with snow which had turned to hail had begun to pelt them when the wind had started to kick up. Still making out with Booth with the intent of rocking his world right back was intensely satisfying even if they'd had to abandon the hot tub and move back inside; afterwards he told her that she had not only rocked his world but his entire universe as well.

The chirping of her cell phone called out from somewhere on the floor where her clothes had been scattered when she'd hastily discarded them last night. Just as her hand closed around her phone, she felt an arm sliding across her waist and coming to rest on her hip. Booth's voice was a bit raspy as he whispered in her ear, "Don't answer it."

"But it might be about the case," Brennan couldn't quite answer the call before it went to voicemail and the caller ID only confirmed that it was Hodgins who had called; presumably because he had something new to report. She was about to hit the speed dial, when she felt Booth reach over her and pry the phone out of her hand and set it on the bedside table.

"We don't have to be up quite yet; the case isn't going anywhere," Booth pressed a kiss against her shoulder. He smiled when she let out a pleasant sigh and then turn to face him, engaging him in a leisurely kiss. He wasn't quite ready to let go of last night and so he began to caress the curve of her hip with slow swirls of his fingertips as she pressed against him.

Brennan's cell phone chirped again and she instinctively reached for it, giving explanation to Booth's furrowed brow as she broke off their kiss, "They're going to just keep calling." This time it was Angela and Brennan knew very well that the next time it would probably be Zack, or maybe even Hodgins again.

Booth knew that she was right, but that didn't stop his ministrations along her hip.

"Brennan," She let her eyes flutter shut at the soft touch of Booth's fingers; there was something so perfectly intimate about it that she nearly sighed as she felt him press his lips against her neck, until she heard Angela's voice on the other end of the line.

"_Sweetie, I didn't wake you up did I?" _Angela could tell when there was the slightest difference in her best friend's voice and it was clear as day to her that Bren sounded refreshed and could she possibly hope – sated?

"I was just getting up actually," Brennan really didn't want to get out of bed just yet; Booth was doing delicious things with his mouth. She inwardly groaned, how could a mouth possibly do delicious things in the first place? Delicious wasn't even a noun, it was an adjective. Booth was turning her into an irrational sap and apparently she was letting him.

"_It's a little late for you, even if you are on the West Coast,"_ There was a knowing tone that came across loud and clear in Angela Montenegro's voice.

"We were up late last night," Brennan furrowed her brow to try and separate and compartmentalize what Angela was saying from what Booth was doing. Why as a rational scientist was this so hard?

"_Oh?"_ Angela's tone was hopeful although she wasn't going to hold her breath that a miracle had finally occurred and both Bren and Booth had finally woken up at the same time and figured out what was already painfully obvious to everyone else.

"Did you have something on the case?" Brennan reminded herself that Hodgins had called just shortly before Angela had and she needed to know what it was so that she could get off the phone and fully concentrate on what Booth was doing with his hands.

Disappointment was evident in Angela's voice, _"Hodgins found something on that barrel that he thought might be helpful; there's a mark of some sort. I'm trying to enhance the image and I'll send it to you as soon as we get something."_ She really wanted to pry a bit more; maybe throw in a few pointers on how to land your very own hunky FBI agent, but she was sure that her suggestions, while extremely valid, would be met by deaf ears.

"That's good," Brennan was sure that Booth would want to know, but given that she really didn't want him to stop what he was currently doing, she would just fill him in later.

"_Bren, you know you're my best friend, right?"_ Angela was going to plead her case again; why in the world should her best friend squander the best thing hiding right in front of her?

"Yes," Brennan had a fairly good idea where this conversation was going; especially considering that they'd had this particular conversation countless times over the course of the last few years.

"_And I'm only saying this because I love you,"_ Angela sounded very much the advice columnist in her tone, _"Because I only want what's best for you."_

"Angela," Brennan was tempted to just let her friend off the hook and tell her that she and Booth had managed to figure things out all on their own and she didn't need to push her any longer; however, she didn't seem to be able to get a word in edgewise. Although, given that Booth was currently kissing his way along her throat she didn't really care.

"_Sweetie, you and Booth you can keep insisting that you're just 'partners' or you can face reality and catch up with the rest of us and see that you've got something special. You just need to do something about it before it gets away,"_ Angela could hear something akin to a sigh on the other end of the line and she assumed that Bren was either tuning her out or getting ready to launch into a rational defense of her position.

Booth's lips connected with hers and she momentarily forgot about Angela as she savored the kiss and let out a sigh against his mouth.

"_I know, I know, you aren't into that whole 'friends with benefits' thing with Booth; I get that. I just don't think that you've really considered that you could have far more with him if you'd just allow yourself to be open to the possibility that maybe he wants more than that too,"_ Angela was rather pleased with herself that she'd gotten in a very logical point without being interrupted by Bren telling her that it wasn't like that with Booth. She snickered a little; of course it was _like that_ with Booth, why else would she deny it so vehemently?

Brennan tried to focus her mind on the fact that Angela was still on the phone and if she truly wanted to enjoy the benefit of what Booth was doing, she really needed to find a way to end the call soon.

"_Just promise me that you'll at least consider considering that you have feelings for Booth that go deeper than friends or partners or whatever else you keep trying to convince yourself that you two are, ok?"_ Angela knew that this one was a complete stretch and she fully expected a sharp reply.

"Ok," Brennan was definitely _not_ thinking rationally or she would have realized what she'd just implied and the entire proverbial bucket of caterpillars that went with it.

"_Ok?"_ Angela's shock was palpable; was Bren actually admitting that she had feelings for Booth? She wasn't sure if she should sit down or squeal, but apparently the sitting down won out as she found herself sinking into a chair, _"Did you just say 'ok'? As in you're admitting that I'm right?"_

Brennan did not feel like covering up the development in her relationship with Booth; Angela was going to find out about it sooner or later and it just made sense for it to be sooner rather than later, "Yes, you're right."

Angela sucked in her breath sharply, _"So you do have feelings for Booth then." _She didn't want to get ahead of herself, _"But I already knew that. Does Booth know you have feelings for him?" _She was already very sure that Agent Hot Stuff reciprocated those feelings so she had no doubt that if Bren had let him know how she was feeling that there was a very good reason why she had only now woken up. A smile spread across Angela's face.

"Yes," Brennan's ability to concentrate was becoming increasingly inhibited with Booth continued to kiss her neck and as his hand slid up and enveloped her breast she involuntarily hissed out his name. She quickly mumbled into the phone, "I need to go now," she fumbled with the buttons for a millisecond somewhat satisfied that she'd ended the call before tossing her phone in the general vicinity of the floor.

Angela let out a squeal that could have rivaled a super sonic jet breaking the sound barrier.


	36. Chapter 36

Angela had been rather successful increasing resolution on the image Hodgins had found on the barrel. The rendering had taken quite a while, but when she was finished the name of what she presumed was some sort of company and a logo were clearly visible. She only hoped that it was enough for Bren and Booth to be able to locate the company in question and that it would in fact aid in their investigation. A smirk stole over her face as she emailed the image to Bren; catching her friend with her proverbial hand in the FBI cookie jar was far better than anything she could have hoped for. Whether or not it had anything to do with the years of pushing and prodding on her part or if something had happened in Seattle that had finally served as the catalyst to pull them together, she really didn't care. What did matter was that her best friend had finally realized what everyone else had been aware of for a very long time.

"You look especially happy," Hodgins tone was teasing, but he was genuine in his curiosity at what had put her in such a good mood. Not that she hadn't been in a good mood earlier, well the earlier that morning really, but this was something a little extra and for a brief moment he wondered if her good mood would bode well for a long break somewhere in a remote corner of the Jeffersonian.

"Something happened in Seattle," Angela had that gleeful little smile that spoke volumes and yet she wasn't really volunteering much as she looked up from where she sat in front of her computer.

"_Yes_, a murder investigation which you just helped to crack wide open by rendering that image for me," Hodgins was completely enamored with his fiancé, together they just seemed to bring out the best in each other and he was sure that this piece of evidence was going to be pivotal in solving the case. He rested his hands on her desk and leaned in to offer her a congratulatory kiss when he felt her hand firmly pushing on his chest; pushing him away.

"Jack, something happened with Bren and Booth," She had a single eyebrow raised to compliment her smirk, the twinkle in her eye evidence that she didn't mean that the pair had found a great clue or the newest trend in coffee.

"How do you know?" Hodgins was used to Angela hypothesizing about how her favorite non-couple who claimed that they were just partners were really essentially already a couple, only they just didn't know it yet. His rational mind did little to protest because he could see evidence of it every time he saw the two of them walk in to a room together. However, clearly Angela seemed to think she'd come across something that would prove that the event she'd been hoping for had finally happened.

"When I called her this morning I woke her up," Angela paused as she let that little nugget of information sink in to see if Hodgins would pick up on what she was implying. Being a man, he just looked at her with a quirky blank expression on his face.

"We're three hours ahead of them, Angela," Hodgins had that tone that wanted to know what her point was without actually asking the question and finding himself in more trouble than he'd thought possible. Something he had blindly walked right into more times than he could count. With a woman like Angela, you needed to tread carefully and read between the lines, only he felt like the language between the lines was a secret code.

"I _know_ we're three hours ahead of them," Angela mentally added the word _idiot_ to the sentence as she carefully articulated every word so that Hodgins couldn't miss what she was telling him, "She was _in_ bed. _With Booth_." She flashed an 'I told you so' look at him and crossed her arms to emphasize her point in case he wanted to try and refute what she knew was a fact.

"How do you _know_?" Hodgins leaned in again and hoped that he didn't sound doubtful. This wasn't the sort of thing you wanted to say unless it was true, and even if it _was_ true maybe Dr. Brennan really didn't want anyone to know. Although, if _she_ knew that _Angela_ knew then maybe the big event actually _had_ happened.

Angela's face pinched together as she leaned in a whispered conspiratorially, lacing her fingers at the nape of his neck, "Because she sounded distracted when I told her that she really should take my advice and tackle Booth herself."

"You _did_ say that you had just woken her up, Angela," Hodgins let out a soft chuckle because she was so sure of herself and he had yet to hear something that was convincing enough to make him believe it too. Years of denial had paved the way for Booth and Dr. Brennan to continue to be a non-couple; surely a single trip to Seattle wouldn't change all of that.

"Yes, I _did_ wake her up," Angela rolled her eyes in annoyance; the man was amazing, but for all of his good qualities he was still a man who didn't seem to be able to get a clue. She pursed her lips together and leaned back away from him, "Bren told me herself; Booth just added a little extra confirmation before she managed to hang up the phone." She arched her brows suggestively.

Hodgins' eyes widened in surprise and then he let out a conspiratorial laugh as he realized that all of Angela's dreams for her best friend had just come true, "This is a lucky day." He was hoping that sharing in her joy might just help _him_ get lucky, maybe in the supply closet, but just as he moved in to kiss her he heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their voice.

"This is _work_ people," Camille Saroyan didn't begrudge the happy couple's happiness; she just didn't want it to get out of hand where she had to see it. There was also something about professionalism and not contaminating evidence that flashed through her mind.

"Just celebrating," Hodgins pulled away from the kiss that he'd gone ahead and given Angela anyway and smirked at Cam as he stood up straight.

"What exactly are we celebrating and I hope that it's something to do with the case," While they were at work, Cam wanted them to stay on task. It was hard enough working a case without all of the added inefficiencies of an entire continent between them and the two primary investigators. She really didn't want to add 'hosing off the horny couple' to her list of duties.

"Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth are finally seeing each other," Hodgins felt an elbow suddenly embedding itself into his thigh; he caught the hint a little too late but coughed to try and cover it up and continued, "…got the email Angela sent with the rendered image I pulled from the barrel." He didn't sound convincing at all and he was sure that he was going to catch hell later from one Angela Montenegro.

Cam raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, "Good for them. As for you two; I'm not against using a fire hose if need be." She knew that it had only been a matter of time before Booth and Brennan took that step and she was genuinely happy for them. When she'd come back to DC and considered firing Dr. Brennan, Booth had made it abundantly clear to her exactly where his loyalties were, something even their failed attempt at a rekindled romance hadn't affected.

"Not necessary," Angela flashed Cam a smile and then glanced over at Hodgins with a warning look that spoke volumes.

"Let's keep pushing this; we can't assume that Booth and Dr. Brennan have all of the resources we do. Run that image and see if you can find the name and address of the company that the barrel belongs to," Cam might be a forensic scientist by definition, but she had the mind of a cop and she knew that the sooner they tracked down that little bit of information, the sooner they would either close the book on this lead or they might just break the entire case wide open.


	37. Chapter 37

"What exactly do we hope to accomplish?" Brennan glanced over at Booth who was weaving his way through the height of morning rush hour traffic south towards the engineering firm that the two victims had worked for.

"I want to find out what they were working on and why they were out there in the first place," Booth's jaw was set; despite a rather enjoyable morning, he was feeling a little tense. They'd arrived at the Everett field office of the FBI where they'd been greeted by Agent Coleman who had informed them that somehow the press had gotten wind of the case and now they were itching for an on camera interview in time for the mid-day newscast. That coupled with the news that their plans to go out and try and locate where the barrel had originated before it had been washed down the river with the help of the Snohomish County Sheriff were dashed because so many roads were still impassible once you got off the main highway due to all of the recent flooding. Not that they knew exactly where that was anyway.

"Wasn't that information in the original missing persons' report?" Brennan wasn't sure why they needed to drive 30 miles south into Bellevue just to ask a question that they already knew the answer to.

"Yes, it was, but I want a little clarification. There's a lot you can learn from a face to face interview that you're never going to find in a file," He didn't mention that he thought Agent Coleman's report hadn't been very complete. Of course at the time, it hadn't been a murder investigation either. The rest of the drive was in companionable silence and as Booth pulled into the parking garage of one of the high-rise office buildings where the firm was located his demeanor became all business.

A perky brunette greeted them as they walked into the lobby of Lakeview Engineering, "Can I help you?" Her smile seemed a bit forced but she was friendly enough.

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth," He flashed his badge and then gestured towards Bones, "And this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan. We're here to talk to someone about two former employees."

"Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker," Brennan supplied.

The face of the receptionist seemed to pale, "FBI? This can't be good. I watch a lot of those forensic shows. If you're here, that can't be good." She seemed to have momentarily forgotten that Booth had said he wanted to talk to someone. A full ten seconds went by as she continued to stare at them before the beep of her switchboard interrupted. She blinked and seemed to go on autopilot, "Lakeview Engineering, this is Lacey, how can I help you?" She glanced back up at the pair staring her down from across her desk and held up a finger to indicate that she'd be just a second. "He's out of town, Mr. Lawton. I can give you his voicemail." She smiled as the caller seemed agreeable to her suggestion. "Thank you." She glanced up at the visitors, "I'll get Ms. Mercer, do either of you want any coffee?"

"No, thank you," Booth answered for both of them; they'd hit a Starbucks' drive-thru on the drive down and he for one didn't want any distraction from the meeting they were going to have.

"I'll have a cup," Brennan chimed in, glancing over at Booth with a look that withered his frown. Her brows shot up, "What? I'm a little tired this morning." She couldn't hide the smirk that flitted across her face at the smug grin that began to steal over Booth's.

"Ok, so one coffee then," The receptionist still seemed flustered as she disappeared behind a partition wall and could be heard talking softly to someone presumably in an office around the corner. Her nerves were evident as she came back and gestured towards a conference room across the lobby to the right, "Ms. Mercer will be with you in just a minute. If you'd like to wait in the conference room, I'll bring your coffee in."

"Thank you," Brennan smiled thinly as she regarded the young woman. She wasn't sure if the woman was flustered because they were obviously there as part of an investigation or if she was simply affected by Booth's sexy grin.

They had just settled themselves in the conference room when the receptionist rushed in with a cup of coffee for Brennan, "Sorry for the wait." Just as she turned to leave, a professional forty-something woman stepped into the room.

She smiled as she noticed Brennan, "Temperance, it's good to see you again."

Brennan smiled and stood, extending her hand, "Sarah, this is my partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth." She gestured toward a befuddled looking Booth who had an eyebrow quirked in her direction.

"Nice to meet you Agent Booth, I'm Sarah Mercer," She had a kind smile and her brown eyes crinkled in the corners as she shook his hand before they all settled into their chairs.

"You two know each other?" Booth had a way of stating the obvious as he smoothed his tie down. Despite the fact that he had originally come out to Seattle to provide Bones with security for her book tour, he had brought a couple of suits just in case. Well just in case he took her out to dinner that is; he hadn't planned on working a case.

"We met on the plane, on the flight out from DC," Brennan offered. It really was a small world that the woman who she had talked to for nearly six hours just so happened to work at the same firm that the two victims of their murder investigation had. "Sarah is a nationally know expert in water quality."

Booth cleared his throat and tucked that little piece of information away, "Ms. Mercer, we're here because of Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker." He was carefully studying her reaction.

"Jill and Caleb disappeared last spring while they were doing field work," There was a hint of trepidation on her face as if she didn't want to really know the answer to the question of why they were there.

"Unfortunately, we've identified their remains," Brennan's tone was gentle. She knew how she would feel if she had just learned that a colleague was dead.

Booth interjected, "Ms. Mercer, we're going to need to know what they were working on and where exactly the field work was supposed to take place."

"Call me Sarah, Agent Booth" She seemed to be trying to gather her thoughts, "And of course you have our full cooperation, but we gave a statement to another agent when the missing persons' investigation was opened."

"Yes, and we've read the file," Booth wanted to take advantage of the fact that Bones was on this woman's good side and try and get as much information from her as possible. "Dr. Brennan and I are from DC, however, and there are nuances between the lines so to speak that we might miss since we're not from the area."

Sarah Mercer seemed to read between the lines very well herself, "Can you tell me how they died?" She suspected that if a world renowned forensic anthropologist and her FBI partner were talking to her, that it wasn't a simple case of someone falling down a ravine in the woods.

"They were murdered," Brennan volunteered, glancing over at Booth to make sure that she hadn't overstepped her bounds by sharing exactly what sort of investigation this was.

"What we're trying to establish is where exactly they were when they disappeared," Booth really hoped that the woman didn't answer his question in squinty-speak.

"The Sultan River Basin. It's northeast of here about 30 miles and they were collecting water samples." Sarah seemed to be cataloguing her thoughts to share in the most sequential manner.

"Is that anywhere near the Skykomish or Snohomish rivers?" Booth looked at her with a quizzical expression.

"Yes, the Sultan River feeds into the Skykomish and that feeds into the Snohomish before emptying into Puget Sound." Clearly the pair sitting across the table from her had already gained some familiarity with the area geography.

"Why were they gathering water samples in that location, Sarah?" Brennan knew that as a scientist there were probably specified locations that had been designated for sampling and that the samples were probably tested for a specific panel of things.

"The water sampling itself was routine; we've got an on-call agreement with the county to test the water in the Sultan River where salmon spawn to make sure that the habitat isn't compromised." She let out a sigh as she continued. "They were supposed to be taking samples just below the dam specifically because the dam is up for recertification and we're helping the county with the permit process."

"Isn't that a pretty remote area? What's the dam there for?" Booth knew that dams in the Pacific Northwest were sometimes used to generate power and that salmon were an endangered species; of course he found it ironic that it was also the only endangered species you could regularly buy off of a menu and eat for dinner.

"It forms a reservoir that provides drinking water for eighty percent of Snohomish County," Sarah Mercer was a smart enough woman to know that the information that she was sharing had some relevance to the case. "It doesn't impact the salmon habitat; we can prove that scientifically with the analytical data we've gathered from previous water samples, but there are still some groups that are opposed to the idea of dams in general because they believe it alters the natural structure of the ecosystems."

"And what exactly are you implying?" Booth wanted a little clarification.

Sarah looked across the table at both Temperance and her partner, "I think that it's possible that they encountered someone who doesn't want the dam recertified and was willing to take extreme measures."

"Eco terror," Brennan mulled thoughtfully as she locked eyes with Booth; it was certainly a realistic possibility.

Booth had the sudden sinking feeling that the can of worms this case had opened had just gotten messier.


	38. Chapter 38

"Did any of your staff ever report encountering anyone that seemed suspicious during previous sampling trips?" Booth had a studied gaze as he regarded Sarah Mercer. Her leap to the possibility of an eco terrorist being involved in the murder of her two employees made him wonder if she had inadvertently kept vital information from the original investigation team.

"No, but we have often seen things disturbed in an area that no one else should be in. Of course it's a popular hiking area and it's possible that people who shouldn't be in a particular area end up wandering in there out of curiosity," Sarah let out a frustrated sigh, "If I had thought that anything that our field people had reported had any potential to turn out the way things did for Jill and Caleb, they wouldn't have gone out there without someone from the sheriff's department." Ultimately, she felt somewhat responsible for what had happened to them; she'd seen firsthand what effect the disappearance had on her other employees.

"I understand," Booth made a mental note to check with Agent Coleman about any known eco terror groups operating in the area and if any threats had been reported. That was an angle that definitely hadn't been looked into, although he didn't think that it was the only angle that needed to be explored. "Were Jill and Caleb well liked by their fellow employees?" Booth knew that while the eco terror angle was something he was going to have to look into, he couldn't discount the potential of something maybe a little less dramatic and more obvious.

"Yes, they were. Both of them were up and coming in their field and always received good reviews. As far as I knew they got along well with everyone," Sarah didn't like the idea that one of her employees might have been disgruntled enough to kill two other people. At the very least she would have hoped that she would have seen behavior that might have tipped her off that there was a problem.

"Sarah, had there been anything unusual detected in any of the more recent samples taken up near the dam?" Brennan wondered to herself if elevated constituents of concern might have lead to someone trying to cover up something that could have an impact on the eco system and affect countless people.

"No; like I said, the sampling is fairly routine. Of course there is a certain margin for some constituents that are acceptable by EPA standards, but some activist groups believe otherwise. There isn't any sound science to support their concerns though," Sarah massaged her temples with her fingertips. As the head of the firm she was going to be the one to tell the rest of her employees the news that they had been dreading since Jill and Caleb had disappeared and she began to consider how in the world she was going to do that.

"Can we get copies of whatever it was they were working on before they disappeared?" Booth knew that he could get a warrant to secure the documents in question, but it would be much easier if they were simply volunteered. Not that he thought he'd understand a damn thing since he was sure it would all be in squinty-speak, but surely Hodgins would be able to make some sense of it.

Sarah nodded with her lips pursed, "As I said, whatever you need we will fully cooperate. I may need to alert a few clients because of confidentiality reasons, but I want whoever did this to Jill and Caleb to be found." For the first time since she'd heard the news it seemed to have fully sunk in as her voice caught. "They didn't deserve for that to happen to them."

"Sarah, no one deserves to have that happen to them. Booth and I are going to do whatever we can to make sure that happens," Brennan's voice was gentle. She was confident that she and Booth would solve this case and that whoever had killed Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker would spend the rest of their life in jail. They might not be able to bring the victims back, but they could certainly try and bring them justice.

"Thank you, Temperance," Sarah looked genuinely appreciative as she tried to compose herself, although she was still tearing up. It was ironic really that a random encounter on a plane would turn out to be so providential; she was glad that Temperance and her partner were working the case. In their hands she was sure that it would be solved.

Booth glanced over at Bones and then addressed Sarah, "Thank you for you time. If we have any further questions, we'll be in touch," he hesitated briefly, "And I'm very sorry for your loss." He could tell that the woman had been affected by the deaths of her employees and whether it was simply a front or perfectly genuine, he felt compelled to offer his condolences.

"Thank you, Agent Booth," Sarah Mercer finally seemed to pull herself together as she stood to show them out, "Let me get you my card." She disappeared through the doorway ahead of them and then around the corner, presumably in the direction of her office.

As they moved towards the reception area, they caught a glimpse of someone who looked very familiar stepping into the elevator and both Booth and Brennan did an immediate double take. Being the keen investigator, Booth immediately walked up to the receptionist and offered his most charming smile, "Do you happen to know the name of the man who just left?"

The brunette seemed to melt under his smile, "Oh, yeah, that's Matthew Barrett; he works in one of our field offices up north." She seemed thrilled that the hunky FBI agent seemed to want to talk to her. The thought crossed her mind that maybe she could slip him her phone number and maybe she could tell him more of whatever he wanted to know over drinks, dinner, or maybe breakfast if she was lucky. Apparently she wasn't that lucky as her boss walked back around the corner.

Sarah Mercer had emerged with a business card which she handed to Brennan, "Feel free to call me if you have any questions at all." She had hoped that she could have gotten to get to know Temperance Brennan a little better over the dinner she'd offered on the plane; it wasn't every day that you struck up a friendship with a best selling author, but now it seemed inappropriate to bring it up again.

"Actually, I think that Booth might have one right now," Brennan glanced over at Booth who seemed to feel her eyes boring into the back of his head and glanced in her direction. She gestured him over without saying a word.

"Certainly," Sarah considered whether they should move back into the conference room away from prying eyes and ears.

Booth kept his voice low enough that perky Lacey couldn't really hear because he had gotten the impression that there wasn't much she didn't know that she didn't feel free to share with anyone who cared to listen, "What can you tell me about Matthew Barrett?"

Sarah's brow furrowed in confusion, "He's been with us for about three years." She could tell that there was some sort of relevance here, but she didn't want to take the leap to really think about what that might be although it seemed to be painfully obvious.

"What kind of employee is he?" Booth had his own suspicions about the guy based on the cocky demeanor he had exhibited during the witness interview he'd given at the FBI field office in Everett. Now he was beginning to wonder just how coincidental Matthew Barrett finding that barrel really was.


	39. Chapter 39

"Matthew Barrett seems like a very good suspect, Bones," Booth knew that she didn't like conjecture, but it was a little _too_ coincidental that he just so happened to work at the same firm as both of their victims. Sarah Mercer had offered to go back and verify where he was supposed to be working when Jill and Caleb had disappeared. She did indicate though that it might be wise if he went ahead and got a warrant just to cover all of their bases. He couldn't have agreed more; doing it by the book meant that there would be no questions raised later by some lawyer bucking to make a name for himself by getting the jerk off on a technicality. So here they were heading back up to the Everett field office where Agent Coleman was supposed to be procuring a warrant for not only the records at Sarah's engineering firm, which would include employee records, but one for Matthew Barrett's house as well and anything else he might own.

"It could be just a coincidence; we don't have any evidence that he did anything other than find the barrel," Brennan didn't want to hope that the man might be guilty, she just hoped that they would find evidence that would lead them to the truth and if the truth happened to lead them to Matthew Barrett, well that would very neatly tie up the case.

"And sometimes the most obvious suspect is the one that did it," Booth didn't really want to argue. He felt as if by either providence or dumb luck they had learned that Matthew Barrett was a coworker of the two victims. The fact that he wasn't exactly a model employee all the time just underscored what his gut was telling him. But he was a patient man; he hadn't become Special Agent Seeley Booth by loosing his cool. He was going to do this by the book so that if this guy was as guilty as he thought he was they could lock him up and throw away the keys.

"All I'm saying is that we need to focus on the evidence, not on conjecture. Although I will acknowledge that he seemed to be posturing in that interview with you. As if he was trying to assert his dominance in your presence, challenging the alpha male," Brennan's face was quite serious as she launched into a perfectly logical anthropological argument.

Booth scoffed, "He was definitely challenging, but he is no alpha male, Bones." He wasn't exactly sure what she meant by what she'd just said, but there was no way that he was going to see himself on equal footing with a suspect who had left such an annoying taste in his mouth.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Booth," Brennan's smirk had a hint of a sultriness to it, "You are _all_ man and I'm pretty sure that he's not even close to being as much of a man as you are." She had definitely come to better appreciate _all_ of his male attributes over the last couple of days. Booth was an example in restrained strength and she was finding that was one of many things she was sure she was falling in love with. That thought made her glance out the window. Falling in love in general was something she had never really allowed herself to do or to acknowledge might be happening. She'd always pushed someone away before the entanglement got too deep, but she couldn't do that with Booth. They knew each other too well for her to try and categorize this relationship the way she had any previous one. But that didn't mean that she was ready to tell him that she was falling in love with him.

"Thanks, Bones," Booth felt sufficiently puffed up by her comment; taking pride in the fact that she was with him and if anyone so much as glanced her direction he'd shoot them with a gaze that could burn Hell. His Catholic sensibilities chided him for that last thought; Hell wasn't his to burn, but he would certainly let it be known that Dr. Temperance Brennan was his. Ok, so maybe he wouldn't go all cave man on her, she was more than likely to remind him that she was her own woman and she had only _chosen_ to be with him; he didn't own her, no one did. Somehow that thought just made him feel that much luckier.

"We should find out if the logo on that barrel has been identified yet. That would provide a real lead," She had hoped that Hodgins or Zack or even Angela would have called back to let her know something. She knew that the forensic team at the FBI was working on it as well, but she had far more confidence in her own team in getting it done quickly.

"We'll ask Coleman about that when we get back, but don't discount that what we just found isn't a great lead. I like Barrett for this," Booth offered a smile her direction and he wondered to himself if she realized just how damn sexy she was when she was just sitting there doing nothing.

"I didn't say it wasn't a great lead, Booth, but _liking_ him for it as you put it isn't enough to arrest someone. We should definitely find out if there is a connection between the two events, but we need to focus on the evidence because that is what is going to stand up in court," Brennan knew that Booth's instincts as an investigator were good, but he had been wrong before. The evidence was what they could count on and in her rational mind it was logical that the logo on that barrel was the best lead they had.

"I get it about the evidence, Bones," Need he remind her that he worked for the FBI and his business was catching bad guys; bad guys that his gut seemed to be able to find like a heat seeking missile.

Brennan could hear the frustrated tone in his voice and she glanced over at him noticing that his jaw was clenched. She couldn't tell if he was more frustrated with the case or with her. Her voice was soft, "We have to have evidence to back up what your gut is telling you, but we can't go in looking at evidence with an agenda in mind. It is what it is."

Booth knew that she was right and he felt like an ass because he knew that his tone a moment ago was a bit harsh, "We're on the same side here." He was simply anxious to make some progress in this case and if he were honest with himself he was also more than a little anxious about what the fallout from becoming involved with his partner was going to be. Sure, he knew that Cullen suspected that something was happening between the pair, he'd even come out and said that he expected it would at some point. However, what hadn't been clear was what the consequences would be. If she were FBI there was a clear policy, but because she was a consultant and he was the FBI's liaison to the Jeffersonian, nothing was clear. Well nothing other than the fact that this might be the last case they worked together like this if all of the proverbial shit hit he fan. Maybe that's why he was so tense.

Brennan smiled at him, "We're a team; Brennan and Booth." And they made a good team too. A hint of doubt swirled around her; Booth had said that Cullen wouldn't care if they were involved and that they'd probably have to make some adjustments to placate everyone, but she didn't want to lose this with him. She liked working in the field with him; it was part of who she was; part of who they were together.

"Yes, we are a team," Booth smiled too and he reached over and captured her hand in his. There was a lot they were going to have to talk about after this case wrapped up and he hoped that after it was all over that their partnership would stay intact and that he would get to wake up next to her everyday. Despite his doubts about what Cullen would do, he had to cling to hope. He couldn't possibly have finally ended up with Bones only to have their partnership dissolved.


	40. Chapter 40

News crews were stationed outside of the FBI's Everett field office and Booth glanced over at Bones as they pulled into the underground parking, "Well this is going to be fun." The thought occurred to him that he sure as hell hoped that the host of 'Good Afternoon Seattle' wasn't among the hoards of reporters getting ready for their on the spot reports. She no doubt would hone right in on him and Bones and detract from the real story.

"You could just have Agent Coleman deal with the media," Brennan wanted to focus on the case and she really hoped that she wasn't called upon to give any sort of interview or statement about the victims because that wasn't her strength.

"That's a _great_ idea, Bones," Booth grinned at her; yes, she was brilliant for a reason. Besides, Coleman was a local; albeit working between this office and the one in downtown Seattle, but still that was a lot more local than DC.

As they made their way inside the building, Booth headed off in the direction of where Coleman had said to meet him and Brennan went to check in with the forensics folks, calling the Jeffersonian as she walked to see if they had come up with anything that would identify the logo on the barrel yet.

Coleman glanced up as he saw Booth approaching, "They're going to want you to give a statement to the media since you're the lead agent." Despite his status as a Special Agent, Coleman had felt more like a lackey for this hot shot from DC. He had earned his position by being good at his job and while he knew that Booth was most definitely good at his, he felt as if there was a subtle pissing contest going on between them.

"I think that you're perfectly qualified to do that, Coleman," Booth interjected. He wanted to stay focused on the case at hand and work with Bones; he wasn't interested in the dog and pony show that the media was going to try and make out of it. "Besides, once that warrant is executed, I want to pull that guy in here for a little chat."

"Sure, I'll issue the statement to the press," He gave Booth a nod; maybe this guy wasn't so cocky after all. He pursed his lips slightly as he considered the news he needed to convey, "We may have a little problem with the second warrant Agent Booth; the judge thinks that you have probable cause to obtain the records from the engineering firm since the victims both worked there and he issued that one just fine, but he's not convinced that you have probable cause to search Barrett's house," Coleman knew that wasn't going to please Booth one iota, and quite frankly he was right there with him, but in a state where police work was probably more scrutinized than it was in some other parts of the country, he knew that they were going to have to come up with a little bit more than what they already had.

"What?" Booth looked visibly annoyed.

"Agent Booth, you're dealing with a bureaucracy here in Washington State that often hinders our ability to do our jobs. Trust me, if the judge is hesitant about issuing a warrant, he knows that someone would challenge it in court and probably get it thrown out," Coleman offered a shrug, "I'm on your side here. I think the guy is good for it and I've already taken the liberty of having a full background check done on him."

Booth twitched a smile, for the first time since he'd met the other agent he was beginning to see that perhaps he'd been a little too quick to judge, "Nice work, Coleman. Let me know what it turns up."

Coleman nodded and headed off to prepare the statement that he would use to address the growing cluster of reporters who wanted to know why they hadn't been informed the second that a 55-gallon barrel with two bodies had been discovered. It was probably something close to a miracle that they'd managed to keep it a secret this long.

Booth went in search of Bones to let her know that there had been a little glitch in things. He wasn't pleased about it, but he was hopeful that maybe something in Matthew Barrett's background check would turn up a compelling reason to get that search warrant after all. As he rounded the corner into the area the forensics people worked, he could tell that Bones was less than impressed.

"Ma'am, you're not FBI. I can only release the results to the agent in charge of the case," A super squinty looking squint was focused solely on the visitor's badge and apparently hadn't registered who he was talking to.

Brennan had her arms crossed and a look on her face that could singe hair, "I provided you with evidence to analyze simply because my team is back at the Jeffersonian…"

"Yes, you work for the Jeffersonian, _not_ the FBI," The squint seemed to puff out his chest a little at his fine accomplishment of become a lab tech for the FBI.

"Do you know who the hell you're talking to, sport?" Booth wasn't amused and just to make sure that this pipsqueak knew who he was he flashed his badge at eye level, pleased that he made the kid flinch. "Now, just so we're clear, _Dr_. Brennan is my partner. Any evidence you have that pertains to _my_ case, you need to share with _her_. And that goes for the results she's asking for too. If that doesn't make sense to you, I'd be happy to call Deputy Director Cullen in DC and have him explain it to you." Booth did a vague impression of a smile before he narrowed his gaze again, "Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." The squinty boy-man handed over the results of something to Brennan without another word. He clearly wasn't pleased that this wasn't the protocol he was used to, but he certainly didn't want to draw the attention of the deputy director of the FBI to himself for something like this. He wisely moved back to his work station on the other side of the room from the Special Agent and his so called partner.

"You didn't have go to alpha male on him," A tiny smile tugged at Brennan's lips indicating that she was clearly glad he had. She glanced at the report and perused it with interest before looking up at Booth, "The logo belongs to Lakeview Engineering." That was most definitely an interesting turn of events.

"Now that is just one too many coincidence to call it coincidental," Booth surmised that to find a barrel containing the remains of two of that firm's employees by a third employee who just so happened to be on the top of his list of suspects was a little much. He was now convinced that Matthew Barrett was guilty as hell.

"It still doesn't prove anything; they were taking water samples, maybe the barrel was part of the equipment they were using," She furrowed her brow in doubt, "Of course if they were taking water quality samples they would probably be using much smaller containers."

"Now you're starting to see that the evidence is supporting what my gut has been telling me all along," Booth wanted to know the name of the judge who didn't want to issue the warrant; now maybe he'd stand to reason.

"We should call Sarah and ask her about it; there may be a reasonable explanation that doesn't include him in the equation," Again, she was trying to focus only on the evidence and just because they had found out that the barrel belonged to Lakeview Engineering, it didn't mean that Matthew Barrett had been the one in possession of it.

"Or there may be a reasonable explanation that _does_ include him," Booth countered. He was definitely going to follow up and find out how the barrel was used; it was clearly not something used in an office in a high rise building. More than likely it would be something that a field worker like Matthew Barrett would have occasion to need during the course of his work.

"I'll call her and find out," Brennan was curious and being a scientist she was sure she would be able to appropriately contextualize what the use of the barrel was and if it seemed relevant to what Matthew Barrett's job based on the evidence. If she left it to Booth, he would no doubt make the questions fit the conclusion he wanted to jump to.

"Ok," Booth had to fight a sudden urge to kiss her just then and smiled instead, there would be plenty of time for kissing later – he would make sure of it. "I'm going to go see if there's been any progress on that background check." He was feeling pretty good as he sauntered back over to where Coleman was working. However, as he approached the desk, the other agent had an expression that was somewhere between perturbed and 'I've just won the lottery'.

"Our guy isn't Matthew Barrett." He held out a photo from a missing persons report.

"You're sure," Booth knew that he was, but didn't this just go and complicate the hell out of things.

"The real Matthew Barrett disappeared about four years ago." Coleman held out a photo of the missing man. "Our guy's real name is Michael Barnett; who just so happened to be Matthew Barrett's roommate in college."

Booth knew that this probably meant that now they'd get their warrant.


	41. Chapter 41

Booth was more than ready to interrogate Matthew Barrett or Michael Barnett, or whatever the hell his real name was. The only problem was that the man was nowhere to be found now that they had a reason to talk to him again; not that it didn't give them enough time to call Sarah Mercer about the barrel that had Lakeview Engineering's logo on it and verify that it had been reported stolen a little over a year before. Interestingly enough, the one who had reported the theft was none other than their prime suspect. It certainly did focus the spotlight on him and in the back of his mind, Booth wondered if he had seen him and Bones when they'd gone to talk to Sarah Mercer. With the logo identified and a suspect in clear focus and not much else to be done unless they either found the real Matthew Barrett or track down his imposter Michael Barnett, he and Bones were taking a little break to get a bite to eat.

Booth was in a funk, "This pie isn't as good as the diner's." He pushed the apple pie around his plate with his fork but it wasn't the pie that was the problem at all. He didn't like it when suspects seemed to be one step ahead of him; especially suspects that were a cocky as this guy.

"You should have had the soup; it's very good," Brennan glanced over at him and furrowed her brow as she slipped another spoonful of the potato broccoli soup into her mouth. The fact that Booth didn't seem to be enjoying his pie made her consider that maybe she might try to cheer him up when they got back to the hotel.

Booth ignored her comment and instead plunged ahead with what was on his mind, "The thing I don't get, Bones, is how he knew that we knew he was connected to it all. I mean, he's the one that called the police about the barrel in the first place." Why would a guy who was guilty as hell hand over the very evidence that would seal his fate?

"Maybe he's not guilty," Brennan offered a very logical argument. The evidence they had that pointed in Matthew Barrett's direction was circumstantial at best. Booth had a point, the fact that the main suspect had been the one to call police in the first place raised reasonable doubt as to his guilt. While he had reported the barrel missing from his work vehicle, they couldn't prove that he was the one who had taken it. And they still hadn't identified a murder weapon or a motive. She didn't think that the case was going all that well and she could understand Booth's frustration.

"Oh, he's guilty all right," Booth just knew that the guy knew a whole lot more than he'd let on when he'd first talked to him. He just didn't have anything concrete to prove it just yet. The fact that he'd lied about his name and had apparently been posing as his missing roommate for several years was at least enough to hold him on a variety of charges. Unfortunately, none of those charges were related to this case and neither was the sexy way that Bones ate her soup.

"If you focus on him, you may be missing the possibility that someone else could be guilty," Brennan thought that there were enough questions that hadn't been answered that she didn't that it was a slam down or a touch dunk or however Booth would refer to it.

Booth considered her words and then let out a sigh as he looked directly at her, "You're right, Bones." There was something about all of this that was just nagging at him. How had Barrett known they were on to him? Sure they had been at the company he worked for, but they hadn't known he worked there until they saw him and he hadn't seen them because they'd been in a closed conference room with Sarah Mercer.

"There is enough evidence to suggest that maybe he was involved, but it doesn't prove that he killed them. It might tie him to disposing of their bodies though," Brennan slipped another spoonful of soup into her mouth an noticed just how strong Booth's hands looked as he fiddled with his fork.

Booth sat back and mulled things over, "If he was involved he would have known what was in the barrel; maybe someone saw him wrestling the thing into his boat." It still didn't make sense though; it wasn't as if any witnesses would have known what was in the damn barrel anyway.

"We're not going to solve the case tonight, Booth," Not that they hadn't tried; he had been the one that had insisted that they couldn't work all night. With no more evidence to pour over and the team at the Jeffersonian gone for the day, it seemed that they had an evening to just relax; only neither one of them really seemed to be able to.

He knew that she was throwing his words right back at him, "Yeah, I know." His frustration was coming through loud and clear in the tone of his voice and despite his earlier proclamation that the pie wasn't as good as the diner's he shoved a forkful of it into his mouth.

Brennan's tone was very matter of fact tone, "We could go back to the hotel and engage in intercourse," A smirk flitted across her face as she glanced up at Booth a lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Sexual intercourse."

Booth nearly snorted out his pie, "When you say it like that, I feel like you're reciting a textbook." Not that he was going to decline the offer by any means. He'd been doing his best all day long to not think about just how much he wanted her. Clearly it was going to be difficult when they got back to DC to work cases without turning into another Angela and Hodgins.

"Well if you don't want to, all you had to do was say so," Brennan was certain that he was more than willing to go back to the hotel right now and do exactly what she'd suggested, but she wasn't going to make it easy on him since he seemed to have a preference for using euphemisms over scientifically accurate terms.

"You know I want to," Booth grinned at her as he threw a twenty on the table; more than enough to cover the soup and the pie and leave a nice tip.

Brennan raised an eyebrow at him, "A little eager are we?" She was pretty damn eager herself. All of those years of denial had apparently pent up plenty of sexual frustration and although they'd been with each other several times already, she couldn't seem to get enough of him. Yes, she was most definitely eager to go back and spend some time giving in to her biological urges with Booth.

"And you're not," Booth snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes as he reached across the table and took her hand, giving it a soft squeeze before he slid out of the booth and smiled at her as she did the same. He leaned in for a soft kiss as he slid his arm around her waist and then propelled them towards the door. If he had anything to say about it, she wasn't going to want to get out of bed when the sun came up.

"Eager enough," She offered a sultry smile as they walked to the SUV; this was certainly the best of both worlds this working with Booth during the day and sleeping with him at night. Well not literally sleeping with him, ok, sleeping with him after they'd had sex. Or like last night, sleeping in several different shifts after they'd had sex several different times. In any case, she hoped that what they'd finally found between them here in Seattle would be the same when they got back to DC. It would definitely be challenging, but she was sure that they'd find a way to make things work; they had to because she didn't want to give up working with him and she most certainly didn't want to give up sleeping and having sex with him, or was that having sex and then sleeping. She might have continued her mental debate the entire trip back to the hotel, but Booth effectively short circuited her thought process by pressing her up against the side of the SUV and kissing her until she wasn't sure she could remember off the top of her toes just how many bones there were in a human body.


	42. Chapter 42

Seeley Booth was a happy man; he had a dopey grin plastered on his face and his favorite forensic anthropologist wrapped around him as they lay tangled up in the sheets. They had gotten back to the hotel and as soon as the door to their suite was closed everything he'd put into the kiss against the SUV exploded in the room. There was a nice trail of clothes from the door to the bed; he was sure that there was no way that life could get better than this.

Brennan had been thinking a lot about the changes between her and Booth and she had come to a very profound realization. Despite her firm belief that love could be explained away as just elevated levels of dopamine and norepinephrine there was a component to it all that just defied scientific explanation and so she had concluded that the evidence had soundly contradicted her belief; evidence that couldn't be ignored. Love did in fact exist and she had conceded that she was falling in love with Booth. She had thought about this more than a few times over the course of the last several days, but it was in this moment that she realized that she was no longer just falling in love; she _was_ in love with Booth. Somehow with that realization in hand she felt compelled to share it despite the irrational knowledge that she didn't know if the depth of his feelings paralleled hers. She propped herself up on his chest and met his inquisitive stare with a thoughtful smile, "I've come to the conclusion that science can't explain everything."

Booth let out a chuckle and reached out and trailed his fingers down her cheek, "Finally believe me about defying the laws of physics?" He felt rather proud of himself that he'd been so good that she was reconsidering science.

She smirked at him, "While I'm still not sure that you can actually break the laws of physics no matter how close we might have come to it, that wasn't what I was referring to." She most definitely had experienced an entirely new level of emotion being with Booth like this that no previous lover had ever duplicated.

"Ok," Booth was clearly confused as to what she was referring to.

She furrowed her brow as she considered the implication of what she wanted to say and she realized that she had lived safe for too long; working with Booth had enlarged her view of the world and the people in it and she was sure that loving him would just enlarge it even more, "No matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise; it's now very clear to me that science can't explain the existence of love and yet I've seen clear evidence recently that it's real."

Booth felt as if his heart had stopped inside of his chest only to realize that it was beating wildly, "So you believe in love now do you?" He didn't want to take the leap that he hoped that she was taking; that was too much to hope for.

Brennan didn't hesitate, "Yes, I do because I believe in you." She hadn't exactly come out and said what she meant; she was finding that it was more difficult than she'd imagine such a confession would be, but somehow it didn't seem to matter as a smile seemed to explode across Booth's face.

"I do love you, Bones," The words tumbled out of Booth's mouth as he slipped his fingers into her hair, intent on bringing her in for a kiss; this acknowledgement that love couldn't be explained by science but that it was just as real as anything that could be proven in a lab was so much more than he had hoped he'd ever hear her say.

"And I love you," Brennan found that her words were full of emotion that she hadn't expected and then when she felt Booth's lips pressing against hers, she could feel it there too. Yes, being in love with Booth was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

Booth would have been sure that he'd died and gone to heaven if those three little words hadn't sent him into sensory overdrive. This was definitely on his top ten list of the best moments of his entire life; okay, maybe the top three. He was intent on having her reconsider her position on the laws of physics as he rolled her over and intensified the kiss when the most unwelcome intrusion came as his cell phone started chirping.

Brennan mumbled against his mouth, "Your phone; shouldn't you answer that?" Not that she actually _wanted_ him to answer it, but they were working a rather high profile murder case and anyone who was calling at whatever the hell hour this was most likely was calling about that.

"Ignore it," Booth breathed a sigh of relief as the phone finally silenced only to start chirping again.

"You should answer that," Brennan broke off the kiss they were in the middle of; she knew well enough in the business of catching criminals that people that called more than once would just keep on calling. Besides, if it was a break in the case, they needed to know about it sooner rather than later.

Booth fumbled for his phone and caught the call just before it went to voicemail, "Booth." As soon as he heard the voice on the other end, he was annoyed.

"_Booth, this is Agent Coleman. I'm sorry to bother you, but I thought you'd want to know about this as soon as possible," _Coleman sounded a little annoyed himself.

"What the hell couldn't wait until morning?" Booth knew he sounded far more irritated than he should to another agent that he was working a murder case with but somehow interrupting him and Bones right after she'd told him something that he never thought he'd hear in a million years just pissed him off.

"Is it the case?" Brennan asked quietly.

Booth nodded.

"_We found Barrett or Barnett or whatever the hell you want to call him, because I'm not sure that either of those names is really his."_ Coleman should have been far more pleased with that little bit of information than he sounded over the phone.

"Well put him on ice and we can interrogate him in the morning," Booth was sure that spending the night behind bars might just be the thing to get the prick to confess and save them some time. And the best part of it all was that he wouldn't have to get out of this nice warm bed with a very sexy Bones until he was damn good and ready.

"_Agent Booth, he's on ice alright, but you aren't going to be able to interrogate him because he's in the morgue,"_ Coleman sounded tired and defeated, clearly it had been a very long day for the man and it was about to get even longer.

"You've got to be kidding me," Booth groaned into the phone. This case just couldn't cut him any breaks at all. He ended the call with Coleman and looked over at Bones

"Booth, what is it?" Brennan asked inquisitively.

Booth let out a frustrated grunt, "Our prime suspect is dead."


	43. Chapter 43

It seemed that there was a myriad of hallways leading to the morgue at the Snohomish County medical examiner's office. Coleman looked haggard; he hadn't had the fortune to go home as yet and it was well after midnight. He glanced back at Booth and his partner Dr. Brennan as they followed him, "I thought you'd want to see the body."

"Why?" Brennan looked at him quizzically; he hadn't mentioned anything about the body being unrecognizable. She had clearly understood from Booth that the body was that of their prime suspect; well their former suspect now in any case, so why he thought that a forensic anthropologist would want to see the body, she wasn't sure.

"Well because it's our suspect and he's dead," Coleman didn't have much patience at the moment to even try and understand why Dr. Brennan was afraid to see a dead body; that was her business after all.

Booth could see exactly where this was going and he interjected, "Bones likes the bodies when there isn't so much flesh on them." If Coleman wanted more of an explanation than that so be it, but he knew from experience that that was the first thing Bones usually complained about when she was shown a body that clearly didn't show enough bone. He glanced over at her pleased to see that she seemed satisfied with his explanation.

"Ok," Coleman rolled his eyes at just how picky she seemed to be and he mentally smirked and wished Booth good luck, "The reason I think you'll want to see the body is because I don't think that you're going to believe this if you don't see it yourself." He had seen some strange crime scenes in his day, and he'd come across some strange ways that people had chosen to kill someone, but this was something new even for him.

"It is always best to let the evidence lead the investigation," Brennan offered. If she'd had her doubts about Agent Coleman, she seemed to have those erased as she realized that he took his job seriously; maybe not as seriously as Booth did, but then that wasn't really a fair comparison.

"What am I not going to believe?" Booth's curiosity was piqued to be sure as they entered the morgue.

Coleman walked over and pulled out the drawer that the body of the man they'd met as Matthew Barrett was resting in. It was clear that something was protruding from the man's chest, "See for yourself." He pulled back the sheet.

"It's an arrow," Booth pursed his lips together and then had to restrain a chuckle as he noticed Bones leaning in for a closer look.

Brennan was immediately making mental calculations regarding the shape of the protrusion, "This could have been the kind of weapon that killed Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker." She couldn't be sure until she'd seen the tip of the weapon up close, but she could certainly ask Zach and Hodgins to runs some tests and see if the marks it left on bone matched those from their victims and she was definitely going to have photos sent to Cam, that and whatever findings the coroner came up with during the autopsy. So far they had come no closer to solving that part of the mystery than when they'd started.

Coleman seemed impressed as his eyebrows curved upwards, "So you think they might be linked then?" If it was true, this would be the first solid piece of evidence that maybe Matthew Barrett/Michael Barnett was truly involved. Everything up to this point, even though it pointed at their dead guy, was circumstantial and could be explained away by some damn hot shot lawyer.

"Well if this is the same type of weapon that was used in the first two murders it would certainly lend credence to that theory," Brennan wasn't about to jump to conclusions without first seeing if this was indeed the same kind of weapon.

"Ok, but then who killed _him_?" Booth gestured towards the body, "Because that sure as hell is not self-inflicted." What it seemed to him was that one well placed shot from a high-powered hunting arrow had just changed the entire course of their investigation. Because of what was laying right in front of them, they still had a murderer out there who had just upped the body count to three.

Coleman gave the pair a thoughtful look as he scratched his head, "Who else even knew that he was a suspect?" Booth had called in for him to request the warrants as they'd been driving back from Lakeside Engineering in Bellevue; if Barrett was dead, then maybe someone else knew that he was a suspect.

"Sarah Mercer," Booth offered, but his gut just didn't think she was involved.

"We should pull her in for questioning," Coleman reasoned.

"The receptionist was also in the lobby when we were asking Sarah about Matthew Barrett; remember, you asked her who he was when we saw him heading into the elevator," Brennan didn't want to believe that Sarah could be involved in something like this; she would if the evidence supported it. Lacey the receptionist, however, was an unknown quantity; except for the way she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of Booth that is.

"She _was_ pretty quick to say that she watched a lot of forensic shows on TV," Not that this little tidbit alone would implicate her for murder, but Booth thought that Bones was right that she was a very viable suspect to at least leak information.

"Ok, let's pull them both in first thing in the morning," Coleman considered that maybe in the meantime they could do a little digging into the background of the two women; well at least he could assign another agent to do that, he planned on going home and getting a couple hours of sleep. He pulled the sheet back over the body and slid the drawer shut. The conversation continued as they left the morgue and threaded their way back through the maze of hallways the way they'd come.

"I'll call Zach and Hodgins at the Jeffersonian and have them start checking to see if an arrow might have made those marks on the remains of the first two victims," Brennan considered that she'd probably have to leave a voicemail given how late it was in DC, but at least this way they could get started as soon as they arrived at work.

"I don't think that this guy Barrett or Barnett is an innocent bystander though," Booth gestured back towards the general direction of the morgue. "There are just too many coincidences to make me believe that he wasn't involved somehow." Of course whether he was guilty or innocent wasn't the highest priority now that he was dead.

"I agree," Coleman rubbed a hand over his eyes and realized that it was going to be a long time before he saw his bed now that they'd started this train of thought, "Maybe someone decided to take him out because we were getting a little too close."

"Or maybe he was going to give them up," Booth offered in return.

"If that's true, why didn't he give himself up during the first interview; he had to know what was in the barrel," Coleman hadn't liked the guy either, but then again, some people were just born to be jerks.

"Maybe he didn't think that we'd be able to connect the dots," Booth was just speculating, but he'd seen people start giving up pieces of information the closer an investigation got to them. There was something in the dark side of human nature that wanted to see just how far you could go in getting away with something; maybe that was true in Barrett's case too.

As they emerged back out onto the sidewalk in front of where they'd parked, Coleman let out a yawn, "We can either head back to the field office and I can get some coffee going, or we can meet back there at about six and get at least a few hours of sleep." He was hoping for the latter.

"See you in the morning, Coleman; you look beat." Booth wasn't going to burn the midnight oil unless they had a compelling reason. Right now there wasn't one; they'd have to wait until morning before they could get a warrant or pull in either of the women anyway and it wasn't worth staying up all night throwing out theories when he could be snuggling in a warm bed with his favorite forensic anthropologist.

Coleman nodded gratefully and offered a sort of half wave before heading to his car.

As Booth and Brennan walked towards the SUV they'd come in, Brennan glanced over at him, "Since we're engaging in conjecture, I think that Lacey is the one we should be talking to,"

"Why do you say that, Bones?" He was interested to know if she had noticed anything in the way the woman had stood or walked that made her say that since she seemed to hone right in on those details no one else but maybe Zach ever saw.

Brennan's brow was furrowed and she looked perfectly serious as she glanced over and answered his question, "I didn't like the way she was looking at you."


	44. Chapter 44

The offices of Lakeside Engineering seemed to be humming with activity, but as Booth and Brennan walked in accompanied by Agent Coleman and a warrant for the documents they'd requested the day before, one thing was very clear – receptionist Lacey Donavan was not at the front desk. Instead a very flustered looking redhead was scrambling to stay on top of things and the appearance of three people at once seemed to nearly overwhelm her. "Can I help you?" With several phone lines ringing at once, it wasn't clear if she could offer any real help.

"We're here to see Sarah Mercer," Brennan stepped up to the desk. She glanced over at Booth; he seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Uh, can I tell her who is here?" The redhead was pushing buttons frantically and hoping that she wasn't disconnecting people.

"Dr. Temperance Brennan," Before Brennan could introduce the pair behind her, Booth flashed his badge, "and the FBI."

"Uh, just a minute," Clearly this was not the best day that the substitute receptionist had ever had. She left the phones ringing off the hook and disappeared around the corner only to rush back around the corner a few moments later, "She'll be right with you." She turned her attention to the phones, "Lakeside Engineering can I help you?"

Sarah Mercer rounded the corner looking as professional and put together as she had the day before, "Why don't we go into the conference room." She gestured towards the conference room just off the reception area where she'd met with Booth and Brennan before. It was really a statement more than a question as she led the way.

Booth and Brennan followed, but Coleman stayed out in the reception area in case Lacey Donovan happened to come in. The fact that she wasn't there when they arrived raised a red flag about her possible involvement in the untimely death of their prime suspect. As the door to the conference room closed behind them, Booth took the lead, "Ms. Mercer we have the warrant for the documents." He slid the piece of paper across the table for her inspection.

"It's really a formality; as I said yesterday, you have my full cooperation I want to do whatever I can do to help find out who killed Jill and Caleb." Sarah looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep.

"You can start by telling me where you were last night after you left your office," Booth wasn't going to pull any punches. Deep down he didn't think it was likely that Sarah was involved in how Barrett/Barnett ended up dead, but he couldn't take that for granted.

Sarah's brow furrowed slightly, "Well, I had a client meeting until about 5:30 and after that I gave a lecture down at the University of Washington on water quality. I left there at about 9:30 and then met my husband at our favorite Indian restaurant for a late dinner. We got home about 11:30." She seemed to have some concern that this was clearly not about whether she had room in her schedule to have coffee. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"Matthew Barrett is dead," Brennan offered knowing full well that Booth was going to make sure that her activities of the previous evening checked out.

Sarah seemed to pale noticeably, "That explains why Lacey called in sick." She shook her head in disbelief at the realization that yet another one of her employees had died far too young.

"Why does that explain her calling in sick?" Booth didn't really see the connection except that now his interest was clearly shifting to the missing receptionist.

"The two of them have been dating for a while; I'm not sure if they live together, but Lacey is always looking at wedding magazines so I assumed that things were serious," Sarah answered.

"Do you know how long they've been dating?" Brennan knew that a personal relationship could certainly be a motive for murder; she and Booth had seen that time and time again in the cases that they'd investigated together over the course of their partnership.

"A couple of years I think," Sarah wasn't exactly sure, but then again, probably the only reason she knew that Lacey had been dating Matthew was because the reception desk was right around the corner from her office.

"How would you characterize their relationship?" Booth queried a bit further. His impression of the receptionist was limited to their interaction yesterday, but he certainly had picked up on the fact that for someone who was supposed to be in a serious relationship, she was certainly flirty.

"I only observed her as my employee; I'm not really sure what kind of relationship they had. She seemed happy with him," Sarah wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but she was starting to think that maybe Lacey was in some sort of trouble.

Booth glanced over at Brennan; other than checking to make sure that Sarah was where she said she'd been the night before, they really needed to find Lacey Donovan and question her as soon as possible. He turned his attention back to Sarah, "Thank you for your time. Agent Coleman is going to wait until you've gotten the documents that the warrant is asking for and you'll need to provide him with names of people that can verify where you were last night."

"Am I a suspect?" Sarah sounded genuinely surprised that she was under investigation.

"Only two people knew that we had concerns about Matthew Barrett; you and Lacey Donovan. We're simply following procedure," Brennan supplied.

"Of course, whatever you need," Sarah nodded.

It was a little over two hours later when Booth and Brennan pulled into a large apartment complex about sixteen miles north of the offices of Lakeside Engineering. If she had simply called in sick, then Lacey Donovan should be home; but since no one had been notified that Matthew Barrett, aka Michael Barnett, was currently in the Snohomish County medical examiner's office in cold storage grief wasn't a plausible excuse.

Booth knocked softly, but had one hand on his gun as he waved at Bones to stay back a little. With no answer, he knocked a little harder. To his surprise, the door opened.

A very bruised looking Lacey Donovan opened the door; her eyes were red-rimmed and there was bruising at her throat with marks that appeared to have been left by someone's fingers as well as a shiner around her left eye that would make a boxer proud.

Booth flashed his badge, "Lacey, we need to talk to you about Matthew." He could tell by the way that she willingly let them in that he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"He tried to kill me," Lacey aimlessly moved back over to the couch where it appeared that she'd cocooned herself in blankets and Kleenex.

"Tell us what happened," Brennan was concerned by the obvious physical trauma that she'd undergone, but she couldn't discount that the person she'd claimed tried to kill her had been the one that had ended up dead.

"We were supposed to meet for last night for dinner, but he seemed angry when he came to pick me up. I didn't think I'd done anything wrong...I told him about my day," She glanced at the pair who were standing there just watching her, "I told him that you had come by the office...you were looking into Jill and Caleb disappearing." She tried to stifle a sob unsuccessfully.

"What did he do, Lacey?" Booth knew down in his gut what probably happened next.

"He accused me of telling you where he was; that if I knew what was good for me I'd have kept my mouth shut because he didn't want to go to prison," Lacey choked out another sob.

"Did he kill Jill and Caleb?" Brennan asked gently as she sat down next to Lacey on the couch.

Lacey nodded and sniffled a bit more, "I didn't know that it was him until last night; I didn't think he could do something like that. But as soon as he told me that he'd killed them I knew he was going to kill me too."

"Tell us exactly what happened," Booth felt some measure of satisfaction that the son of a bitch that he'd felt in his gut was responsible was exactly who he'd thought he was.

"He threw me up against the wall and held me by my throat; he'd never laid a hand on me before that," Lacey looked genuinely bewildered, "He said he'd had to get rid of Caleb because he thought that I was seeing him behind his back, but I wasn't. I had told him before that Caleb was just a good friend; he had a serious girlfriend of his own. Matthew said that he had to kill Jill because she was just there when she shouldn't have been. He seemed almost possessed – I've never been so scared."

"How did you get away? Tell us how he ended up dead, Lacey," Booth's tone was gentle but insistent. She was pretty convincing and he was inclined to believe her, but he wanted the whole story before he decided what course of action to take.

"He said that we were going to go for a little ride; I didn't want to go, but he told me that I didn't really have a choice because we had a lot to talk about. When we got to his car, his bow hunting gear was on the floor in front of my seat – he's always got that with him so he can practice when he gets a chance so he'd ready to hunt elk and deer," Lacey realized that this man that she'd planned on spending her life with was not who she thought he was in the worst way possible and that set off another set of sniffles. "I think he left the bow out of its case so that I'd know how serious he was."

"So you shot him with it?" Booth wanted to be perfectly clear.

Lacey nodded, "I knew that I'd have one chance or he'd kill me. I didn't want to do it, but I didn't want to die either." She explained how she'd reached for it just as they'd pulled into the deserted park and how he'd looked shocked that she managed to set the arrow so quickly and then as if it was playing out on a movie screen in slow motion, ever detail of his death was etched into her memory. Every ugly detail, "I ran; I just left him there and ran."

"I'm going to have to arrest you," Booth informed her even though he knew that she probably wouldn't go to jail since it seemed pretty clear to him that she had killed him in self defense. That of course would be up to the district attorney.

Lacey nodded tearfully, "I expected that you would."

Brennan rested her hand on the young woman's arm in a gesture of support as she looked up and locked eyes with Booth; she understood the feeling of taking a life when another was being threatened, but she also knew that Booth had a job to do and it was up to the courts to decide Lacey Donovan's fate.


	45. Chapter 45

"Wow, First Class, Bones," Booth couldn't hide his excitement even though he did try to lower his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. He was stretching out his long legs and scooting side to side in the seat relishing in the spacious comfort of this area of the airplane as he glanced over at his partner turned girlfriend as the rest of the passengers continued to board the flight.

Brennan raised a single eyebrow at him in amusement, "I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it. You're acting more like your son than a grown man." She knew that he always flew coach, but on this little trip back to DC from Seattle, she did not want to spend the entire length of the country sitting here thinking about him sitting back there, so she'd taken the liberty to buy an upgrade for his seat.

Booth knew that at least part of her was relishing in this with him and he reached over and laced his fingers through hers, "Thanks, Bones. This is really nice." With the case as wrapped up as they could get it they were finally headed home where they wouldn't have to deal with her publicist much or nosey reporters on daytime talk shows. That thought made him smile at how much had changed since they'd left DC.

She smiled in spite of herself, finding that she liked this change in their relationship. The shift had been so natural that she was confident that she wasn't going to lose who she was by being with him, "You're welcome." She let her head fall back against the seat and let out a sigh.

Booth followed her example and then turned his head to look at her, "I talked to Cullen after Coleman and I filled out the paperwork." He was glad that the other agent was going to get to mop up all of the little messes that this case had created. Lacey Donovan wasn't going to be prosecuted; further investigation had supported her story that Matthew was a regular Robin Hood when it came to shooting a bow and arrow and they still hadn't really established who he was truly. For all they knew, he'd been stealing the identity of different people for quite a while. With him dead, it was going to be a far more complicated task and one he wasn't going to have to participate in. The real Matthew Barrett had not yet been found and Booth's gut told him that if their dead guy disposed of people the way he had Jill Alexander and Caleb Walker then he might never be found. That was all Coleman's problem though; Booth was headed back to DC with his Bones.

"Oh?" Brennan hoped that she didn't sound unsettled about that fact. She wasn't really sure what the FBI would say about the change in their relationship or how that would affect them being able to work together. She hoped they could just keep things the way they were at work.

"He wasn't at all surprised that you and I are seeing each other," Booth's mouth twitched into a sort of smile, "In fact I believe his exact words were ''so you've finally decided to get your head out of your ass'." He left out the part about how he had sputtered a bit at the comment that even his superior seemed to know something about him and Bones that he hadn't been willing to admit to himself until just recently.

"It's physically impossible to stick someone's head up an ass; especially their own ass," Brennan smirked at him wondering now that Cullen knew about them if things would stay the same or shift a little as Booth had suggested before they'd taken the leap. She was confident that Zach could work out in the field just fine although she wasn't sure that Booth was up to the task if that's what had to happen.

Booth leaned in smiling, "You're so cute when you get all squinty." Despite the roll of the eyes he got in response, he kissed her, feeling a smile against his mouth. Yes, he was glad that he had finally gotten his head out of his ass because Bones was just about the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Brennan rolled her eyes again as the kiss ended, "It's nice to know that you love me for my brains." The word just rolled right out without any hesitation; now that she knew for sure that Seeley Booth really did love her she couldn't help herself.

"Your brains are just part of what I love about you," Booth grinned at her. He knew better than to go into detail about every inch of her that he loved, but he was fairly certain that she already knew.

"Did he say anything about us working together?" That was the question that Brennan really wanted to have answered. If she didn't get to see Booth she wasn't sure how all of this was going to work. She'd come to depend on him in a way that she had never wanted to depend on anyone; she was a strong independent woman who could take care of herself – except for those times that Booth seemed to sweep in and save her life.

"Yes, he did," Booth wasn't sure she was going to like the terms that Cullen had set down, but if that was the worst they were going to have to deal with in order to keep working together, he was more than happy to take it. "He wants us to continue to meet with Sweets until he thinks it's no longer necessary or he'll terminate our partnership."

"Oh," It wasn't something that she had expected, but if that's what they had to do to be together and still get to work together then she was willing to try; no matter how much she hated psychology.

"He just wants to make sure that we can keep our personal life out of our professional life," Booth was sure that they could do it; he was more worried about their professional life interfering with their personal life. As it was they seemed to spend more time working together than doing just about anything else; he made a mental note to try and change that a little.

"Did he say how long we'd have to see him for?" Brennan was just concerned that it would continue on indefinitely and while she didn't dislike Dr. Sweets, she didn't exactly enjoy the time that she and Booth spent in his office under his watchful stare. Not that it hadn't been beneficial; there were things that he'd been able to help she and Booth deal with, but it was usually after they'd left his office that they were most honest with each other.

"No, but I think that if we prove to him that being together isn't going to change the way we solve cases then maybe he'll let us go back to doing what we do best without Sweets involved," Booth wasn't about to admit to anyone, including Bones that their therapy sessions with Sweets actually had been helpful in their relationship.

"Ok," Brennan knew now what the terms were and she could live with them.

"Ok?" Booth wanted to make sure that she was really ok with it. If she wasn't, he could just ask for reassignment or he'd live with getting stuck with taking Zach out into the field. He would do whatever was necessary so he could stay with Bones.

"Yes," Brennan looked at Booth carefully, "I want to be with you Booth. And I want to keep working with you too. We make a good team; not just you and me, but Zach, Hodgins, Angela, and Cam too. If that means that we have to meet with Dr. Sweets, then I'm willing to do that. I don't want victims to lose a voice because we chose to be together. I think that we can do both."

"We're the center Bones," Booth nodded recalling an earlier conversation that they'd had several months before. They _were_ the center of the team, but she was really the center for him he couldn't help but smile at her.

"And the center must hold," Brennan smiled in return and as her eyes found his she leaned in and welcomed the kiss he offered. This was right; this was so right. She had never really considered the possibility of a forever with someone before, but she certainly was now. Not that she had changed her views on marriage, but she was certainly willing to commit her heart to forever with him.

"Dr. Brennan?" The voice sounded vaguely familiar as it intruded on the moment.

Brennan glanced up as she and Booth ended their kiss to find that she was looking right at Molly Ng, the reporter that had interviewed her and Booth on 'Good Afternoon Seattle'. She was momentarily speechless.

"I thought that was you," Molly looked extremely pleased and as her eyes landed on Booth, her smile widened, "And Agent Booth, nice to see you again too." Clearly all of the denial on her show had been either a prelude to what she'd just witnessed or a complete smoke screen. Either way, she had a fabulous inside story on just who Andy Lister really was patterned after.

"There aren't any cameras behind you are there?" Booth wasn't about to give another interview that felt like the Spanish inquisition ever again.

Molly laughed, "No. I'm on my way to DC for a story. I hear you two had to cut that book tour short for a real case." It had been all over the news and despite her best efforts she hadn't been able to land an exclusive interview. Maybe being on this flight was her lucky break.

Unfortunately for her, a flight attendant with her immovable smile was trying to get everyone in their seats so they could take off, "Ma'am, you need to go sit down." She herded her down the aisle deep into the coach section of the aircraft leaving Booth and Brennan in peace.

Booth smiled as she disappeared, "Now where were we?" Any thoughts he might have had to suggest initiating themselves in the mile-high club were erased from his mind with a nosy reporter on board; well that and the fact that he'd have to arrest himself and Bones since it was a federal offense no matter how tempting it sounded.

"Right about here," Brennan smiled as she reached over and slid her fingers into his hair, pulling his head down until she felt the press of his lips against hers, right where they belonged. This was certainly a nice way to wrap up a case, but she knew that for her and Booth, this was just the beginning.

_**The End.**_

**Author's Note:** Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers for sharing your thoughts and taking the time to read my work. Special thanks to Ashley for mulling over the plausibility of different ideas with me as I considered exactly where the case was going. Without her as my sounding board, this story would have taken considerably longer.


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